Monthly Archives: November 2014

ModderDojo Athenry Topic 6: JavaScript Operators and ScriptCraftJS Drone Functions

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Our mods:

Download them here: https://cdathenry.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/modderdojo-athenry-our-scriptcraftjs-minecraft-mods/

Operators:

Operators in any programming language are used when you want to calculate something new: they operate on values. variables, or expressions to produce a new value.

Since ScriptCraftJS is built on the JavaScript langauge, it uses standard JavaScript operators. As it happens, many other programming languages (including C, C++ and Java) use the same operators or very similar ones.

JavaScript Operators

Drone Functions:

As we have seen before, in ScriptCraft you use a drone to do your building for you. The drone has functions that are part of it.

Here are some of the main drone functions that are useful when building your mods:

ScriptCraft Drone Functions

You can find lots more about these and other functions in the ScriptCraft API Reference:
https://github.com/walterhiggins/ScriptCraft/blob/master/docs/API-Reference.md

ModderDojo Topic 5: Moving from Scratch to JavaScript

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GeneralFeaturesOfProgrammingLanguages

Reminder: JavaScript is a well-established programming language, mainly used in web development. ScriptCraft is a Minecraft mod that allows you to write JavaScript code for building structures in Minecraft and writing new Minecraft mods. (So it’s a mod for creating other mods.)

Steps 1 and 2: Try out ScriptCraft commands and write simple mods

Please look back to last week’s notes for now to do this: https://cdathenry.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/modderdojo-week-1-getting-started-with-scriptcraft-and-javascript/

Step 3: Comparing JavaScript to Scratch

Some people criticise Scratch as being “childish”, but I don’t agree. While it is designed so that even 8 year olds can use it, it is still has all of the key features of ‘adult’ programming languages, as listed in the image at the top of this post.

(Technically, any programming language with variables, decision and loops is Turing Complete.)

This means that, if you already know how to write a Scratch programs that use these features, you will be able to apply that knowledge to any other language, such as JavaScript. The syntax of JavaScript is different, but it uses the same computational thinking.

Variables-Operators

Loops

Decisions

Notes:

  • Even though they have basic ideas in common, every programming language has its own specific commands that relate to its purpose: Scratch is focused on 2D games and animations, while ScriptCraft is focused on operating inside Minecraft, and JavaScript generally is used for interactive websites.
  • the echo command that features in these slides is not a standard JavaScript command, it is just used in ScriptCraft to display things on your screen in Minecraft.  Everything else is standard JavaScript.