Question

I look at the many colors before me. I look at my blank canvas. Then, I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.

Joan Miro

The material from the previous chapters gives you all the elements you need to build a simple web application. In this chapter, we will do just that.

Our application will be a web-based drawing program, along the lines of Microsoft Paint. You can use it to open image files, scribble on them with your mouse, and save them. This is what it will look like:

Painting on a computer is great. You don’t need to worry about materials, skill, or talent. You just start smearing.

This is a book about getting computers to do what you want them to do. Computers are about as common as screwdrivers today, but they contain a lot more hidden complexity and thus are harder to operate and understand. To many, they remain alien, slightly threatening things.