You've bested creepers, traveled deep into caves, and maybe even gone to The End and back--but have you ever transformed a sword into a magic wand? Built a palace in the blink of an eye? Designed your own color-changing disco dance floor?
In Learn to Program with Minecraft(R), you'll do all this and more with the power of Python, a free language used by millions of professional and first-time programmers!
Begin with some short, simple Python lessons and then use your new skills to modify Minecraft to produce instant and totally awesome results. Learn how to customize Minecraft to make mini-games, duplicate entire buildings, and turn boring blocks into gold.
You'll also write programs that:
-Take you on an automated teleportation tour around your Minecraft world
-Build massive monuments, pyramids, forests, and more in a snap!
-Make secret passageways that open when you activate a hidden switch
-Create a spooky ghost town that vanishes and reappears elsewhere
-Show exactly where to dig for rare blocks
-Cast a spell so that a cascade of flowers (or dynamite if you're daring!) follows your every move
-Make mischief with dastardly lava traps and watery curses that cause huge floods
Whether you're a Minecraft megafan or a newbie, you'll see Minecraft in a whole new light while learning the basics of programming. Sure, you could spend all day mining for precious resources or building your mansion by hand, but with the power of Python, those days are over!
Requires: Windows 7 or later; OS X 10.10 or later; or a Raspberry Pi. Uses Python 3
Author(s): Craig Richardson
Publisher: No Starch Press
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 336
About the Author
About the Technical Reviewer
Brief Contents
Contents in Detail
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Why Learn to Program?
Why Python?
Why Minecraft?
What’s in This Book?
Online Resources
Let the Adventure Begin!
Chapter 1: Setting Up for Your Adventure
Setting Up Your Windows PC
Installing Minecraft
Installing Python
Installing Java
Installing the Minecraft Python API and Spigot
Running Spigot and Creating a Game
Starting Over with a New World
Playing Offline
Switching to Survival Mode
Setting Up Your Mac
Installing Minecraft
Installing Python
Installing Java
Installing the Minecraft Python API and Spigot
Running Spigot and Creating a Game
Starting Over with a New World
Playing Offline
Switching to Survival Mode
Setting Up Your Raspberry Pi
Getting to Know IDLE
Getting to Know the Python Shell
Say Hello to IDLE’s Text Editor
When to Use the Python Shell and When to Use the Text Editor
The Prompts Used in This Book
Testing Your Minecraft Python Setup
Chapter 2: Teleporting Through Minecraft with Variables
What Is a Program?
Storing Data with Variables
The Structure of Programming Languages
Syntax Rules for Variables
Changing the Values of Variables
Integers
Mission #1: Teleport the Player
Floats
Mission #2: Go Exactly Where You Want
Slowing Down Teleportation Using the time Module
Mission #3: Teleportation Tour
Debugging
Mission #4: Fix the Buggy Teleportation
What You Learned
Chapter 3: Building Quickly and Traveling Far with Math
Expressions and Statements
Operators
Addition
Mission #5: Stack Blocks
Mission #6: Super Jump
Subtraction
Mission #7: Change the Blocks Under You
Using Math Operators in Arguments
Mission #8: Speed Building
Multiplication
Division
Mission #9: Spectacular Spires
Exponents
Parentheses and Order of Operations
Handy Math Tricks
Shorthand Operators
Playing with Random Numbers
Mission #10: Super Jump Somewhere New!
What You Learned
Chapter 4: Chatting with Strings
What Are Strings?
The print() Function
Mission #11: Hello, Minecraft World
The input() Function
Mission #12: Write Your Own Chat Message
Joining Strings
Converting Numbers to Strings
Concatenating Integers and Floats
Mission #13: Add Usernames to Chat
Converting Strings to Integers with int()
Mission #14: Create a Block with Input
Bounce Back from Errors
Mission #15: Only Numbers Allowed
Mission #16: Sprint Record
What You Learned
Chapter 5: Figuring Out What’s True and False with Booleans
Boolean Basics
Mission #17: Stop Smashing Blocks!
Concatenating Booleans
Comparators
Equal To
Mission #18: Am I Swimming?
Not Equal To
Mission #19: Am I Standing in Something Other Than Air?
Greater Than and Less Than
Greater Than or Equal To and Less Than or Equal To
Mission #20: Am I Above the Ground?
Mission #21: Am I Close to Home?
Logical Operators
and
Mission #22: Am I Entirely Underwater?
or
Mission #23: Am I in a Tree?
not
Mission #24: Is This Block Not a Melon?
Logical Operator Order
Is My Number Between Two Others?
Mission #25: Am I in the House?
What You Learned
Chapter 6: Making Minecraft Mini-Games with if Statements
Using if Statements
Mission #26: Blast a Crater
else Statements
Mission #27: Prevent Smashing, or Not
elif Statements
Mission #28: Offer a Gift
Chaining Together elif Statements
Mission #29: Teleport to the Right Place
Nested if Statements
Mission #30: Open a Secret Passage
Using if Statements to Test a Range of Values
Mission #31: Restrict Teleport Locations
Boolean Operators and if Statements
Mission #32: Take a Shower
What You Learned
Chapter 7: Dance Parties and Flower Parades with while Loops
A Simple while Loop
Mission #33: A Random Teleportation Tour
Controlling Loops with a Count Variable
Mission #34: The Watery Curse
Infinite while Loops
Mission #35: Flower Trail
Fancy Conditions
Mission #36: Diving Contest
Boolean Operators and while Loops
Checking a Range of Values in while Loops
Mission #37: Make a Dance Floor
Nested if Statements and while Loops
Mission #38: The Midas Touch
Ending a while Loop with break
Mission #39: Create a Persistent Chat with a Loop
while/else Statements
Mission #40: Hot and Cold
What You Learned
Chapter 8: Functions Give You Superpowers
Defining Your Own Functions
Calling a Function
Functions Take Arguments
Mission #41: Build a Forest
Refactoring a Program
Mission #42: Refactor Away
Commenting with Docstrings
Line Breaks in Arguments
Function Return Values
Mission #43: Block ID Reminder
Using if Statements and while Loops in Functions
if Statements
Mission #44: Wool Color Helper
while Loops
Mission #45: Blocks, Everywhere
Global and Local Variables
Mission #46: A Moving Block
What You Learned
Chapter 9: Hitting Things with Lists and Dictionaries
Using Lists
Accessing a List Item
Changing a List Item
Mission #47: High and Low
Manipulating Lists
Adding an Item
Inserting an Item
Deleting an Item
Mission #48: Progress Bar
Treating Strings Like Lists
Tuples
Setting Variables with Tuples
Mission #49: Sliding
Returning a Tuple
Other Useful Features of Lists
List Length
Mission #50: Block Hits
Randomly Choosing an Item
Mission #51: Random Block
Copying a List
Items and if Statements
Mission #52: Night Vision Sword
Dictionaries
Defining a Dictionary
Accessing Items in Dictionaries
Mission #53: Sightseeing Guide
Changing or Adding an Item in a Dictionary
Deleting Items in Dictionaries
Mission #54: Block Hits Score
What You Learned
Chapter 10: Minecraft Magic with for Loops
A Simple for Loop
Mission #55: Magic Wand
The range() function
Mission #56: Magic Stairs
Playing Around with range()
Other List Functions
Mission #57: Pillars
Mission #58: Pyramid
Looping Over a Dictionary
Mission #59: Scoreboard
for-else Loops
Breaking a for-else Loop
Mission #60: The Diamond Prospector
Nested for Loops and Multidimensional Lists
Thinking in Two Dimensions
Accessing Values in 2D Lists
Mission #61: Pixel Art
Generating 2D Lists with Loops
Mission #62: A Weather-Worn Wall
Thinking in Three Dimensions
Outputting 3D Lists
Accessing Values in 3D Lists
Mission #63: Duplicate a Building
What You Learned
Chapter 11: Save and Load Buildings with Files and Modules
Using Files
Opening a File
Writing to and Saving a File
Reading a File
Reading a Line of a File
Mission #64: To-Do List
Part 1: Writing the To-Do List
Part 2: Displaying the To-Do List
Using Modules
The pickle Module
Importing pickle
Importing One Function with the from Clause
Importing All Functions with *
Giving a Module a Nickname
Mission #65: Save a Building
Part 1: Saving the Building
Part 2: Loading the Building
Storing Lots of Data with the shelve Module
Opening a File with shelve
Adding, Modifying, and Accessing Items with shelve
Mission #66: Save a Collection of Structures
Part 1: Saving a Structure to a Collection
Part 2: Loading a Structure from a Collection
Installing New Modules with pip
Using pip on Windows
Using pip on a Mac or Raspberry Pi
Using a Module from pip: Flask
Mission #67: Position Website
What You Learned
Chapter 12: Getting Classy with Object-Oriented Programming
Object-Oriented Basics
Creating a Class
Creating an Object
Accessing Attributes
Mission #68: Location Objects
Understanding Methods
Mission #69: Ghost House
Returning Values with Methods
Mission #70: Ghost Castle
Creating Multiple Objects
Mission #71: Ghost Town
Class Attributes
Understanding Inheritance
Inheriting a Class
Adding New Methods to Subclasses
Mission #72: Ghost Hotel
Overriding Methods and Attributes
Mission #73: Ghost Tree
What You Learned
Afterword
Block ID Cheat Sheet
Index
More Smart Books for Curious Kids!
Resources
Requirements
If You're Using Windows 7, 8, or 10
If You're Using OS X 10.10 or Later
If You're Using a Raspberry Pi
