Show HN: Teachcraft – Learn Python through Minecraft

Here's a shameless link to a thing I created a while back when I was running workshops. Minecraft-like world that runs in pure browser aimed at teaching JavaScript:

http://webblocks.uk/

https://github.com/cjdell/Craft/commit/c0162acb36ed8f538c6bf...

See it working here: http://wb.buz.co/craft/main.html

In the end I ended up making this instead from scratch: http://webblocks.uk/

I might return to it though because my version isn't as functional!

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http://www.ocsmag.com/2016/04/04/mining-for-education/

My 5yo son has been playing Minetest for a number of months now and loves it. He has asked for certain features---e.g. having fire truck be able to shoot water to put out fires rather than having to get out and use buckets of water---and I intend to walk him through adding that feature and others as he gets older. He's asked for things in the game that there are no mods for---I intend to show him how to create them using Blender, which I also think he'll have fun doing (granted, I'll have to remember how to use Blender!).

You may be able to do this in Minecraft, but I want him to see that _any_ aspect of the game can be modified and studied and shared, even outside its scripting language. I want him to see that it's encouraged, and normal. I don't want him to ever think that at some point, he'll be told "no, you can't do that", or "no, you can't see the source code---you can't study that".

Education isn't a short-term goal: it evolves over time. Free Software is well suited for education[0] not only for its practical benefits of study, but for its social benefits that are in line with the inquisition encouraged by other fields.

At this past year's LibrePlanet lightning talks, a speaker involved in gaming in free software provided his opinions on getting people involved with free gaming. Donald Robertson of the FSF provided his opinions on the matter and stated that people he spoke to wanted something more: they wanted to be involved in the community that they're already involved in with proprietary games. They don't want to explore new communities---so they'll mod games they're already involved in, proprietary or not. And this seems to be the source of a lot of resistance I get when talking about kids playing Minetest instead of Minecraft here on HN.

The webpage posted in this thread states, "Learn to program Python within a multiplayer world we all know and love, Minecraft!" And when getting children interested in certain topics, catering to interests is a powerful tool. But I still encourage trying to give Minetest a try: there are many similarities that children might be interested in. Ultimately, it's a judgment call, and if Minecraft is the only way to get your child interested in programming and they're already playing the game, less is lost. But if you're introducing your child _to_ Minecraft for the sake of modding and teaching programming, please consider Minetest instead.

[0]: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html

Maybe certain object/data types could have a physical presence like a database could be a shelf, and hooking them up physically would create a real database will multiple tables that could be interacted with in the game. I was thinking about this more in the sense of actually helping me model applications instead of teaching, as it would just be more fun to work with. Does anyone else have interest?

Another way of thinking about this could be like a library with bookshelves in game that you can actually walk though, and program an in game robot to get certain books when you want certain things (querying), and it could help visualize how a database and application were set up and working together.