Learn to Program with Minecraft: Transform Your World with the Power of Python

by Craig Richardson

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® , 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
–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!

Windows 7 or later; OS X 10.10 or later; or a Raspberry Pi. Uses Python 3

Genres: Childrens, Software, Technology, Programming, Nonfiction, Reference

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2015

Reviews

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I used to try and teach my 6th grader how to program. I started with game creation using Unity and C#. While we were able to create and publish a successful game, I did not feel as though he really understood what aspect of the game creation was "programming". It was much clearer using this book. While there were many times in which he just wanted to continue playing Minecraft rather than moving on to the next lesson, I felt it was important to just be patient and let him play. Its key that he associates coding with fun. We did not complete the lessons in this book because he 'lost' it. Because of this, I turned to the other one on his shelf called "Python For Kids" by Jason Briggs.

I'm finding that Python for Kids is much more in-line with what I want him to learn. It does a good job catering to kids and I find myself learning a few things! I'm thrilled that he is grasping the concepts surprisingly fast (especially classes, objects, and inheritance) but I think this has a lot to do with me being able to reference bits of code from the Unity tutorials as well as those of this book.

I don't think I got him hooked yet but I'm trying very hard.

[Brian Surratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I write software for a living, and bought this book for my kids . As someone who thinks in code, I found this book an odd mix of topics at various levels of technical depth, but still some hand waving. For example, using a library that reads from binary files, but not explaining what binary files are. But if that example didn't make any sense to you, then the book may be cool for you.

[John Baichtal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to manipulating your Minecraft worlds with the help of Python.

[John Haworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good mixture of practical examples and fun activities to do with Minecraft. What was particularly good is the ability to practice and play with the code structure and see the results immediately in the Minecraft world.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book.

Good way to learn programming.

I have been learning how to teach programming as I wish to volunteer soon.
Although, with the recent variants, it won't likely happen for a while (COVID)

3.8/5

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel very goodabout this book and I got a lot out of this. I got a little confused and I prefer HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Still good though.My

[sanstheskelepun]

great but only if you have python ( i don't)