The Coding Train (Daniel Shiffman)

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Creative coding tutorials (p5.js, Processing); 1.82M subs, active weekly uploads.

1.8MYouTube followers

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About The Coding Train (Daniel Shiffman)

Daniel Shiffman is on a mission to share code with the world — "in a fun, approachable way," as his NYU faculty page puts it — and The Coding Train is the engine of that mission. The YouTube channel, home to nearly two million subscribers, is the internet's friendliest classroom for creative coding: p5.js and Processing tutorials, generative algorithms, physics simulations, computer vision, and machine learning, all taught by a man who treats every error message as an invitation and every algorithm as a playground.

Shiffman was born July 29, 1973, in New Haven, Connecticut, and raised in Baltimore. He earned a BA in Mathematics and Philosophy from Yale, then spent his early career in an unexpected place: the theater, as producing director of P73 Productions, a small New York company he started with friends from Yale. The pivot toward code led him to NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) for a master's degree — and he never left, eventually becoming an Associate Arts Professor there, teaching courses like Creative JavaScript, Nature of Code, and Programming from A to Z. He is also a co-founder and board member of the Processing Foundation, the nonprofit stewarding Processing and p5.js, the open-source environments created by Casey Reas and Ben Fry that sit at the heart of everything he teaches.

Before the channel, there was the art. His early works Swarm #1, Swarm #2 (both 2002), and Swarm #3 (2004) explored algorithms that create patterns of virtual flocking birds — based on Craig Reynolds's Boids model — as real-time digital brush strokes generated from live video input, producing an organic, painterly effect live in the gallery. And before that, the books. Learning Processing (2008) became the beginner's bible for programming images, animation, and interaction; The Nature of Code (2012), self-published via Kickstarter and released under a Creative Commons license, taught a generation to simulate natural systems — forces, trigonometry, fractals, cellular automata, genetic algorithms — and its 2024 second edition, published by No Starch Press, rebuilt every example in p5.js. His publisher's bio says it plainly: "Shiffman's work has transformed thousands of curious minds into creators."

The channel launched in 2016 under the name Coding Rainbow — the "Welcome to Coding Rainbow!" intro video carries the original rainbow-styled branding — and was renamed The Coding Train, with the train metaphor ("All aboard! Choo choo!") becoming its beloved calling card. The signature format is the Coding Challenge: a single video, one sitting, building something wonderful. Coding Challenge #001 was "Starfield in Processing"; soon came the Snake game, the Menger sponge fractal, 3D terrain from Perlin noise, the Lorenz attractor, maze generators with recursive backtracking, the A* pathfinding algorithm, and eventually deep dives into neural networks with TensorFlow.js and ml5.js. There are tracks for total beginners ("Code! Programming with p5.js for Beginners"), long-running series like "The Nature of Code" videos, regular live streams where he takes questions and debugs in real time, and the "Passenger Showcase," where viewers submit their own creations for him to celebrate on air.

The style is the substance. Shiffman codes live, makes mistakes live, and laughs at them live — modeling the truth that debugging is the work, not the obstacle. His enthusiasm is genuine and famously contagious: the "woo!" when a simulation first runs, the high-fives, the refusal to talk down to anyone. The GitHub repositories behind the videos, the p5.js Web Editor sketches, the open Discord community, the contributor-driven codingtrain.com — everything is structured to turn watchers into makers. Teachers assign the videos in classrooms worldwide; artists who "aren't math people" discover they can simulate a solar system by lunch.

The reach compounds. A beginner who starts with his p5.js basics often graduates to the Processing Foundation ecosystem itself — contributing to p5.js, joining community events, teaching others. His Kadenze course adapted The Nature of Code for online learners, and his "Beginner's Guide to Machine Learning" series brought ml5.js to artists who'd never touched a neural network. The channel's code of conduct, its volunteer captioning, its community challenges — the whole operation runs like an open-source project with a video camera pointed at it.

What sets The Coding Train apart in the crowded world of programming YouTube is that it isn't really about getting a job. The vast majority of coding channels sell the dream of a six-figure engineering salary; Shiffman sells wonder. The pitch is that code is a creative medium — a canvas, an instrument, a way to see the natural world differently — and that anyone curious enough to press play is already qualified. That philosophy, preached one joyful video at a time since 2016, has quietly made him one of the most influential teachers in the history of the open web.

Previously covers The Coding Train because the classroom is the culture. Every animator, game designer, generative artist, and data-visualization wizard who got their start with a cheerful "Hello!" deserves to know where the train is headed next. Every "Hello!" at the start of a video is an open door. All aboard.

About this creator

Words by Julian Cole

Daniel Shiffman — The Coding Train — is creative coding's conductor. The NYU professor's joyful tutorials — p5.js, Processing, the "code-alongs" — turned programming into a playground. The enthusiasm is the engine. Shiffman's genuine delight — the "woo!" when the code works, the laughter when it breaks — makes programming feel like recess. The joy…

Daniel Shiffman — The Coding Train — is creative coding's conductor. The NYU professor's joyful tutorials — p5.js, Processing, the "code-alongs" — turned programming into a playground.

The enthusiasm is the engine. Shiffman's genuine delight — the "woo!" when the code works, the laughter when it breaks — makes programming feel like recess. The joy is infectious; the learning is incidental.

The coding challenges are the curriculum. Rain, fractals, neural networks — bite-sized builds that teach big ideas. The train's cargo is understanding.

The inclusivity is the mission. Art, design, the creative coders — Shiffman welcomes the people traditional CS scared off. The tent is big; the code is colorful.

The p5.js advocacy built a movement. The library, the community, the creative coding renaissance — Shiffman's fingerprints are on all of it. The professor who codes in public.

The guests and collabs expand the classroom. Artists, engineers, the fellow travelers — the Train picks up passengers. The journey's better together.

The books formalized the fun. The Nature of Code — the text that taught a generation to simulate physics, flocking, and life itself. The textbook that reads like an adventure.

Previously covers The Coding Train because the code is creative. All aboard — the next challenge departs soon.

The live streams are the workshop. Real coding, real mistakes, real learning — the process uncut. The classroom without walls.

The legacy is the coders. The artists and designers who found programming through the Train — the creative technologists shaping the visual web. The conductor's students are everywhere.

The Nature of Code 2.0 is the evolution. The updated text, the new examples, the modern web — the classic reborn for a new generation of creative coders. The adventure continues.

The global community is the movement. Creative coders on every continent — the sketches, the shares, the remixes. The Train's passengers built their own stations.