Learn to Program with Minecraft Plugins: Create Flaming Cows in Java Using CanaryMod

by Andy Hunt

The first edition of this book used the Bukkit modding server and library, which was taken down due to a legal dispute in September 2014. This new edition has been completely revised to replace Bukkit with the CanaryMod library.Write your own Minecraft plugins with CanaryMod and watch your code come to life with flaming cows, flying creepers, teleportation, and interactivity. Follow along with the book and add your own features to the Minecraft game by developing Java code that "plugs in" to the server. You'll manipulate and control elements in the 3D graphical game environment without having to write tons of code or learn huge frameworks. No previous programming experience necessary.Expand your Minecraft experience! You'll learn how to write Java code and build plugins for your own Minecraft servers using the popular Java programming language. This new edition has been completely revised to use the freely-available CanaryMod library.You'll create plugins that can change blocks from air to stone, or spawn cows and creepers. You'll write plugins that react to game events, and even schedule tasks that will run later in the game. Readers from age 9 to 99 will learn how to use variables and functions to build plugins that fling players into the sky, create flying creepers, and of course, shoot flaming cows.Along the way you'll learn real programming using Java, from classes, objects, and data structures (including arrays and hashes) to exception handling and threads. You'll even learn how to back up your code (and go back in time!) using Git, and run your own server at home or in the cloud. A progress bar shows you how far you've come in each chapter, and by the end of the book you'll be able to design and code your own plugins.Put your gaming to good use, and learn "real" programming skills today.What You Need: A modern PC running the Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux operating systems. The book explains how to download Java, the CanaryMod server and API, and all the tools you'll need.

Genres: Technology, Programming

284 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2014

About the author

see also Andrew Hunt

Andy Hunt is a programmer turned consultant, author and publisher.
He co-authored the best-selling book "The Pragmatic Programmer",
was one of the 17 founders of the Agile Alliance, and co-founded
the Pragmatic Bookshelf, publishing award-winning and critically
acclaimed books for software developers.

Andy started writing software professionally in early 80's across
diverse industries such as telecommunications, banking, financial
services, utilities, medical imaging, graphic arts, and of course,
the now-ubiquitous web.

Source: Amazon.com

Reviews

[Jeff Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well done, but sadly was based on CraftBukkit. With the death (or nearly) of CraftBukkit the use of this tool for pedagogical reasons is still reasonable but a lot less fun as all new features must be abandoned with no hope of ever including them in your own extensions. Without a hope of setting up a server that friends will want to play, interest in building anything but the rudiments is gone. So, if you are trying to interest a child in programming - great. If you hope that your child will then spend their time building minecraft extensions to some greater degree - not so great.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Great way to teach programming using engaging content and best programming practices. Also like the access to the author via the book's home page on pragprog.com with the discussion forum, so if you get stuck, you can ask questions and not simply get stalled. This is helpful to those new to programming. This may be too basic to those who already know how to program, but is a total gem for those who don't and are learning.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, but sadly dependent on CraftBukkit which has been taken down.