Just released: sound effects for ProcessingJS programs!

The students of the Khan Academy programming community love making games, animations and mini-movies, and they've been clamoring for a particular new feature for the last year: sound. Their wait is over! Last week, we released a way for programs to play sound effects.

The code is as simple as this, purposefully similar to image():

playSound(getSound("rpg/metal-clink"));

The current sound effects in the picker are from an RPG pack:

We also have more sound effects coming soon, like a retro pack made by one of our top community members.

We've updated the program guidelines to specify that sounds should only be in response to user interaction, so that sounds don't become an annoyance. We'll hold a contest soon to challenge students to use the sound to enhance their programs in the most impressive ways. We hope that sound effects inspire even more creativity in our community!

Holiday contests: Lights, trees, snow globes, fireworks, and games!

In December, while millions of new students were trying their first hour of code, thousands of students in our programming community were creating amazing entries in four holiday-themed coding contests. I picked the top 5 for each one (it was sooo hard!) and made a few montage videos, too. Check them out!

Contest: Light up this house!

Check out the entries here and winners here. Here's a video montage that I made of the entries, synced to Pachebel's Cannon:

Contest: Animate this snow globe

Check out the entries here and winners here.

Contest: Tree decorating

Check out the entries here and winners here.

Contest: Snow game

Check out the entries here and winners here.

Contest: Fireworks

Check out the entries here and winners here. Here's a montage I made of the entries, synced to "Ride of the Valkyries":