Comments on: Learn Python Using Minecraft https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/ Sun, 20 Nov 2016 01:59:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: STEM Books And Toys For Kids: Your Science Holiday Shopping Guide – Greg Laden's Blog https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467325 Sun, 20 Nov 2016 01:59:48 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467325 […] on Minecraft: Learn to Program with Minecraft: Transform Your World with the Power of Python HERE is my […]

]]> By: Paul Murray https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467324 Thu, 07 Jan 2016 03:17:46 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467324 “But working with the existing Minecraft system, via the API, allows some relatively simple programming to produce impressive results. This is “Hello World” on steroids, at the very least.”

Which is why, if I wanted to introduce someone to programming, I’d teach Javascript in a web browser. It’s free, it’s everywhere, it’s an object-oriented environment, you can get visible stuff happening right away, and (unlike minecraft) it’s commercially relevant.

]]> By: John Mashey https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467323 Sun, 03 Jan 2016 19:59:06 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467323 “But working with the existing Minecraft system, via the API, allows some relatively simple programming to produce impressive results. This is “Hello World” on steroids, at the very least”
This approach has a long history of being a Good Thing.
Princeton civil engineering ran a first programming course (on SGI workstations) where i/o and graphics wrappers let students focus on algorithms and get visualizations right away. I sat in on a class once in 1990s and it was terrific.

Back in the early 1970s, i wrote a macro package (XMACRO to do this for IBM S/360 assembler code, including simple commands to read or print, convert binary to/from decimal/hex, do subroutine linkage, etc … for the same goal: let students get on with learning (in this case architecture and assembly programming) rather than struggling with masses of code to set up i/o.

]]> By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467322 Sat, 02 Jan 2016 22:48:29 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467322 Good timing Greg. A good friend has her students go into public schools (5th grade and up) and work on coding with kids. She’s excited to check this out.

]]> By: Learn Python Using Minecraft [Greg Laden’s Blog] | All Science Globe https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467321 Sat, 02 Jan 2016 22:40:41 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467321 […] ScienceBlogs » Science Blogs » Technology […]

]]> By: Learn Python Using Minecraft | Learning on the ... https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467320 Sat, 02 Jan 2016 16:33:56 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467320 […] Minecraft is a gaming world. Or, if you like, a “sandbox.” This is a three dimensional world in which characters do things, all sorts of things. The context for the world of Minecraft i…  […]

]]> By: John Mashey https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467319 Sat, 02 Jan 2016 07:33:02 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467319 It has long been a good idea to choose the highest-level, latest-binding language (fast enough, supported enough),
This was known a long time ago.

See Languages, Levels, Libraries, and Longevity.

I don’t think Python is bad old days either.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467318 Fri, 01 Jan 2016 18:39:03 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467318 I didn’t think Python was the bad old days, though. Python may be the perfect language for this in that it is a semi-object oriented scripting language being used to control a big piece of software.

]]> By: Patrice Boivin https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/01/learn-python-using-minecraft/#comment-467317 Fri, 01 Jan 2016 18:27:15 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21972#comment-467317 How about learning to code in Java, since Minecraft was written in JAVA. Let’s not resurrect the bad old days of Visual J++ etc.

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