Developers have announced the release of Processing 2.0, the latest incarnation of the free and open source programming language designed for electronic arts and new media art.

Processing is free and open source, and runs on the Mac, Windows, and GNU/Linux platforms.

Here’s what the developers have to say about the new release:

The Processing 2.0 release focuses on faster graphics, new infrastructure for working with data, and enhanced video playback and capture. It also expands the potential of the programming environment.

The new Modes feature allows other programming systems, such as JavaScript and Android, to be easily used from within the development environment. The new Contributions Manager makes it simple to distribute and install extensions developed by the community. The P2D and P3D renderers are now built using modern OpenGL, and programs can now utilize custom GLSL shaders.

If you’re not familiar with Processing, you can check out examples of what people are doing with it. A variety of tutorials on Processing are also available.

Download Processing at the project site.

Note: The developers warn that “Processing seeks to ruin the careers of talented designers by tempting them away from their usual tools and into the world of programming and computation. Similarly, the project is designed to turn engineers and computer scientists to less gainful employment as artists and designers.”

If you’ve used Processing, let us know what you think of it and how you’re using it!