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Scripting API now in public beta

minecraft.net

31–40 of 102 posts

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#31
post #24
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what drives parents to want their kids to become code monkeys. I would rather my kids be financially savvy and have business skills. It sure doesn't hurt to know how to code, but getting them to program in Python from age 10 does not make them entrepreneurs or creators of business opportunities, it just makes them the labor workers of tomorrow.

That’s kind of like saying, “Teaching them to write just makes them the scribes and court officials of tomorrow,” or, “Teaching them to add and subtract makes them the bookkeepers and tax collectors of tomorrow.”

My issue is not with the act of programming, just as I don't have an issue with the act of writing something on a paper.

The issue is that the parents are doing this in order to set the kids up to a career in programming, which IMO is going to be the blue collar work of their future. There is no glory in being a code monkey 10 years from now... just a decently paid blue collar worker making someone else rich.

Teach them the business skills that will enable them to properly hire and evaluate 20 programmers for their business venture, not simply be one of those 20 programmers.

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#33
post #17

This kind of thing changes lives. I used to play a lot of counter strike source. One day I found a server mod called EventScripts, and suddenly I could make all kinds of crazy game modes on Python. I found I picked up this programming thing pretty naturally, and without that mod I doubt I would have even dabbled. The feedback loop is phenomenal and is something you simply do not get with other forms of learning. I re…

Way back there used to be Metamod (which IIRC circumvented some limitation of the Half-Life engine regarding how it loaded DLLs into the game), and then AMX Mod layered on top of that, which was later replaced by AMX Mod X. This in turn used a little programming language called "Pawn". You could then write mods in Pawn, compile that to bytecode and dynamically load it into the game server. Later there was Sourcepawn. These enabled a lot of complex mods, and required relatively little knowledge about the messy details of the engines, however it was still relatively involved. First you had to setup the various base mods to get it to work, then you needed to compile your mods, restart the game server for most changes etc.

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#34
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what drives parents to want their kids to become code monkeys. I would rather my kids be financially savvy and have business skills. It sure doesn't hurt to know how to code, but getting them to program in Python from age 10 does not make them entrepreneurs or creators of business opportunities, it just makes them the labor workers of tomorrow.

Name one domain that can't be enhanced by knowing how to code.

I have nothing against knowing how to code, but no 10 year old needs to be doing that, just going to make them even more used to a sedentary lifestyle and away from (real) social interaction.

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#35
post #17

This kind of thing changes lives. I used to play a lot of counter strike source. One day I found a server mod called EventScripts, and suddenly I could make all kinds of crazy game modes on Python. I found I picked up this programming thing pretty naturally, and without that mod I doubt I would have even dabbled. The feedback loop is phenomenal and is something you simply do not get with other forms of learning. I re…

Way back there used to be Metamod (which IIRC circumvented some limitation of the Half-Life engine regarding how it loaded DLLs into the game), and then AMX Mod layered on top of that, which was later replaced by AMX Mod X. This in turn used a little programming language called "Pawn". You could then write mods in Pawn, compile that to bytecode and dynamically load it into the game server. Later there was Sourcepawn.…

I remember SourcePawn! It was a bit too hardcore for me at the time. If I remember correctly it used a thing called 'sigscanning'[1] to find the address of private functions. I think it would have a list of patterns and then scan the binary w/ pattern matching to find the address.

Hacky as hell but you could do some neat stuff with it like respawning players and adjusting all kinds of 'untouchable' attributes.

1. https://wiki.alliedmods.net/Signature_Scanning

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#36
post #31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s kind of like saying, “Teaching them to write just makes them the scribes and court officials of tomorrow,” or, “Teaching them to add and subtract makes them the bookkeepers and tax collectors of tomorrow.”

My issue is not with the act of programming, just as I don't have an issue with the act of writing something on a paper. The issue is that the parents are doing this in order to set the kids up to a career in programming, which IMO is going to be the blue collar work of their future. There is no glory in being a code monkey 10 years from now... just a decently paid blue collar worker making someone else rich. Teach t…

Why do you think all those parents wants their kids to have a programming career? Do you think the same of parents putting their kids in musical instrument classes? Don't you think there will be any joy working with code in 10 years time?

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#37
post #31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s kind of like saying, “Teaching them to write just makes them the scribes and court officials of tomorrow,” or, “Teaching them to add and subtract makes them the bookkeepers and tax collectors of tomorrow.”

My issue is not with the act of programming, just as I don't have an issue with the act of writing something on a paper. The issue is that the parents are doing this in order to set the kids up to a career in programming, which IMO is going to be the blue collar work of their future. There is no glory in being a code monkey 10 years from now... just a decently paid blue collar worker making someone else rich. Teach t…

My Dude… there are so many more roles programmers can play in the world than this little fantasy of yours where you get to be Mr Scrooge McDuck.

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#38
post #31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s kind of like saying, “Teaching them to write just makes them the scribes and court officials of tomorrow,” or, “Teaching them to add and subtract makes them the bookkeepers and tax collectors of tomorrow.”

My issue is not with the act of programming, just as I don't have an issue with the act of writing something on a paper. The issue is that the parents are doing this in order to set the kids up to a career in programming, which IMO is going to be the blue collar work of their future. There is no glory in being a code monkey 10 years from now... just a decently paid blue collar worker making someone else rich. Teach t…

Running a Minecraft server is the logical progression to writing Minecraft plugins. At least a few years back, it was fairly easy to monetize Minecraft servers by selling in-game perks and paying YouTubers for advertising. Once you reach a certain player count/level of cashflow, you end up having to hire and evaluate programmers/sysadmins to sustain the business.

This isn't a rare path - just look on sites like SpigotMC and you'll see literally thousands of developers turning to the business side of things. The business skills that your kids would gain from this would be 1000x more valuable than whatever you can teach.

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#39
post #29
post #17

This kind of thing changes lives. I used to play a lot of counter strike source. One day I found a server mod called EventScripts, and suddenly I could make all kinds of crazy game modes on Python. I found I picked up this programming thing pretty naturally, and without that mod I doubt I would have even dabbled. The feedback loop is phenomenal and is something you simply do not get with other forms of learning. I re…

I feel the same way. I am so excited about this. I hope it is not too late though. Seems as though a lot of the popular around Minecraft has faded a bit.

I was surprised to learn that it's actually the opposite: Minecraft recently reached a new peak with over 90 million active players.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-02-minecraft-...

Re: Scripting API now in public beta

#40
post #31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s kind of like saying, “Teaching them to write just makes them the scribes and court officials of tomorrow,” or, “Teaching them to add and subtract makes them the bookkeepers and tax collectors of tomorrow.”

My issue is not with the act of programming, just as I don't have an issue with the act of writing something on a paper. The issue is that the parents are doing this in order to set the kids up to a career in programming, which IMO is going to be the blue collar work of their future. There is no glory in being a code monkey 10 years from now... just a decently paid blue collar worker making someone else rich. Teach t…

Another dad told me the same thing about my middle son 15 years ago. He was guiding his own son to be a psychologist because he felt that off shoring was going to remove all of the IT jobs in the developed world.

As it turns out he was wrong, my son's enjoying a great career as a programmer, his son has left psychology and is doing some kind of creative arts) music/digital career.

I think ultimately no one really knows what the future will hold, but it seems that it can't be a bad thing having a strong familiarity with the modern day building blocks of business, i.e software.

But i totally agree about arming them with business skills as well, so they can step up to whatever the next step is.

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