Introduction to shaders: Learn the basics!

This post is an introductory guide to writing shader programs, focusing on creating 2D art and effects using fragment shaders. It explains the basics, such as what shaders are, why they run on the GPU instead of the CPU, and introduces fundamental concepts of GLSL (OpenGL Shader Language). The guide includes a detailed walkthrough of setting up shaders using JavaScript and p5.js, covering concepts like vertex and fragment shaders, vectors, parallel computing, and some practical examples of applying shaders to create visual effects, gradients, and image manipulations.