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

TRANSFORM YOUR WORLD WITH THE POWER OF PYTHON

BY CRAIG RICHARDSON

San Francisco

LEARN TO PROGRAM WITH MINECRAFT. Copyright 2016 by Craig Richardson.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

Printed on demand in USA.

ISBN-10: 1-59327-670-2

ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-670-6

Publisher: William Pollock

Production Editor: Riley Hoffman

Cover Illustration: Josh Ellingson

Developmental Editors: Hayley Baker and Tyler Ortman

Technical Reviewer: John Lutz

Copyeditor: Anne Marie Walker

Compositor: Riley Hoffman

Proofreader: Paula L. Fleming

For information on distribution, translations, or bulk sales, please contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly:

No Starch Press, Inc.

245 8th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

phone: 415.863.9900;

www.nostarch.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Richardson, Craig (Software developer), author.
Learn to program with Minecraft : transform your world with the power of Python / by Craig Richardson.
pages cm
Includes index.
Summary: "A kid-friendly introduction to programming in Python that teaches how to customize
Minecraft. Readers follow short Python lessons, then write Python code to create instant visual
results in the game"-- Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-59327-670-6 -- ISBN 1-59327-670-2
1. Python (Computer program language) 2. Computer games--Programming. 3. Minecraft (Game) 4.
Raspberry Pi (Computer) I. Title.
QA76.73.P98R53 2016
005.13'3--dc23

2015035298

No Starch Press and the No Starch Press logo are registered trademarks of No Starch Press, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we are using the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.

Minecraft is a registered trademark of Mojang Synergies AB, which does not authorize or endorse this book.

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor No Starch Press, Inc. shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it.

To the countless adults and children that read the early drafts of this book, used my recipe cards, and attended my talks and workshops: thank you so much for your enthusiasm and support. This book is for you.

Craig Richardson is a software developer and Python educator. He has worked for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, taught high school computing classes, and led many workshops on Python programming with Minecraft.

John Lutz is a math teacher in the New Orleans public school system, where he also teaches extracurricular courses on Scratch, Arduino robotics, and 3D printing. He piloted his schools computer science program, which continues to grow and attract bright new minds to coding. Since helping with this book, John is working on a Python program that will destroy all baby zombies in his Minecraft world, forever.

SETTING UP FOR YOUR ADVENTURE

TELEPORTING WITH VARIABLES

BUILDING QUICKLY AND TRAVELING FAR WITH MATH

CHATTING WITH STRINGS

FIGURING OUT WHATS TRUE AND FALSE WITH BOOLEANS

MAKING MINI-GAMES WITH IF STATEMENTS

DANCE PARTIES AND FLOWER PARADES WITH WHILE LOOPS

FUNCTIONS GIVE YOU SUPERPOWERS

HITTING THINGS WITH LISTS AND DICTIONARIES

MINECRAFT MAGIC WITH FOR LOOPS

SAVING AND LOADING BUILDINGS WITH FILES AND MODULES

GETTING CLASSY WITH OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING

Massive thanks to the fine people at No Starch PressRiley Hoffman, Hayley Baker, Tyler Ortman, and Jennifer Griffith-Delgadoand the very dedicated technical reviewer John Lutz.

Thanks to David Whale and Martin OHanlon who were immensely helpful whenever I had a technical issue. Id also like to thank Mojang for releasing the Minecraft: Pi Edition (which had the original implementation of the Minecraft Python API) for free. Without the people who dedicate their free time to Spigot and CanaryMod, this book would not have been possible. The same goes for the fine people who updated the Minecraft API to Python 3 and also Alex Bradbury for his work on Raspbian.

If you ever meet David Whale, Matthew Timmons Brown, David Honess, Rachel Rayns, Andrew Robinson, or Jenny Brennan, give them a round of applause for helping out at Minecraft and Python workshops. Likewise, a round of applause for Tim Richardson, Michael Horne, Alan ODonohoe, and Laura Dixon for arranging events that helped these workshops reach young people across the country.

Without Brian Corteil, the Minecraft mission that uses Flask would have been a lot more boring. Charlotte Godley helped immensely by loaning me her Mac so I could write the Mac installation instructions for this book.

Finally, to all my friends, family, and colleagues, I am forever grateful for your support during my various phases of bearded reclusiveness.

Welcome to Learn to Program with Minecraft! In this book, youll learn how to write programs with a programming language called Python to control what happens in your Minecraft world. Youll learn how programming works, and then use what you learn to create buildings with code, write mini-games, and transform boring Minecraft items into exciting new toys. By the end of the book, you should have the skills you need to bring all of your wildest ideas to life.

Programming is creative and imaginative, just like Minecraft. With the skills you learn in this book, youll be able to make all kinds of things (like games, apps, and useful tools) beyond programs that use Minecraft. This is the first step in your journey to becoming an amazing programmer and a Minecraft master!

One of the main reasons to learn to program is that it teaches you how to solve problems. Youll discover how to break down big problems into smaller parts to make them easier to tackle. Many of the problems you try to solve will require you to think in creative ways and test different ideas.

Another benefit of programming is that it teaches you to think logically to better understand and plan the structure and flow of your programs. Even when youre not working with computer code, problem solving, creativity, and thinking logically are valuable skills to have.