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Programming Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi

blog.wolfram.com

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Re: Programming Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi

#3

Post by gavanwoolery »

I used to joke that Voxel Quest was just a fancy 3d graphing calculator. I think the entryway for a lot of students to become interested in math is to make rendering more accessible. Shadertoy is one step towards this, but SDF equations are much more difficult to grok than binary on/off voxel plotting, and they have to be mathematically sound or you get buggy looking results.

Re: Programming Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi

#6

Post by satori99 »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #3

I used to joke that Voxel Quest was just a fancy 3d graphing calculator. I think the entryway for a lot of students to become interested in math is to make rendering more accessible. Shadertoy is one step towards this, but SDF equations are much more difficult to grok than binary on/off voxel plotting, and they have to be mathematically sound or you get buggy looking results.

My first programming experience was using Logo on an Atari 800 as a 6 or 7 year old, and I instantly grasped the concept of a giving commands to a turtle with a pen.

It was as game-like as most entertainment software of its time, but it subtly forced me to learn some math in order to create complex shapes.

I think of Minecraft as a similarly clever idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)

Re: Programming Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi

#7

Post by itronitron »

Minecraft added a full set of command blocks (impulse, repeat, and chain) back in version 1.9 which allow players to make similar modifications to worlds, as well as create and equip entities with various items and behaviors. Basically you add a command to a command block in game, and then it executes when the command is activated. I think command blocks are an easier foray into coding in Minecraft although it would be nice to see more capabilities added in the future.

Re: Programming Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi

#9

Post by TeMPOraL »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #3

I used to joke that Voxel Quest was just a fancy 3d graphing calculator. I think the entryway for a lot of students to become interested in math is to make rendering more accessible. Shadertoy is one step towards this, but SDF equations are much more difficult to grok than binary on/off voxel plotting, and they have to be mathematically sound or you get buggy looking results.

During my university times, I often used EvalDraw as quick 2D/3D graphing calculator:

http://advsys.net/ken/download.htm

You type in some C-ish code, it gets immediately executed and drawn. Instant feedback was a winner feature here. Graphing y=f(x) was AFAIR as simple as typing "(x)" in the first line and writing an expression in the next. "(x,t)" for time-varying singals, "(x,y)" for 2-d functions with values viewed as colors, "(x,y,z,&r,&g,&b)" for full-voxels, etc.

I don't even remember how this little program found its way to my hard drive, but I had a lot of good times with it.

Re: Programming Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi

#10

Post by 654wak654 »

klinskyc wrote: post #2

This is fantastic. Minecraft is one of the big factors that made me want to learn Java (back when the game first came out), and indirectly spurred a lot of my own personal development. The easier they can make it, the better.

Minecraft was (probably still is) one of the biggest factors for a lot of people to learn programming. Specially in the first years where it felt so genuinely indie: It had noticeable (but mostly harmless) bugs, and the famous notch was doing everything alone (don't think the solo phase lasted that long, but that's what the public thought).
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