Author Archives: Michael Madden

CoderDojo Athenry Resumes on Saturday 18 Jan

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Happy New Year!

CoderDojo Athenry is starting back up for 2014 on Saturday 18 January 2014. As always, it is on from noon in Gairmscoil Mhuire VEC school in Athenry.

New members are welcome to join us: Martha and Julie in Scratch Beginners will have a special area for new members, and new people are welcome in the other streams also. The mentors and other ninjas can help you get up to speed. If you have not been with us before, here is some more information: https://cdathenry.wordpress.com/about/

You are also welcome to return if you were with us previously but could not attend for some weeks in the run up to Christmas, and the mentors and other ninjas will help you catch up and settle back in.

We will continue with the streams that we had before Christmas:

  1. Beginners/Intermediate Scratch
  2. Advanced Scratch (for ninjas who have been through the Beginner/Intermediate stream)
  3. Beginners Python
  4. Minecraft Modders (aimed at those who are older and/or have completed Scratch Advanced – Java modding this term)
  5. Website Development: this is running in parallel with the weekly sessions

We look forward to seeing you there for some more great sessions!

Michael and the CoderDojo Athenry mentors.

ModderDojo Athenry Week 7: Learning More about Functions

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In recent weeks, we have been writing JavaScript functions to build MineCraft structures using ScriptCraftJS.

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

This week, we spent a bit more time learning about functions, since they are an extremely important part of any programming language. Slides below.

Function Parameters

Default Values for Parameters

Multiple Functions in a Mod (1)

Multiple Functions in a Mod (2)

Helper Functions and Standalone Functions

Why Use Multiple Functions?

ModderDojo Athenry Week 6: Guidelines for Posting Mods

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TheCastle

We are now sharing our ScriptCraftJS mods here: https://cdathenry.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/modderdojo-athenry-our-scriptcraftjs-minecraft-mods/

We will keep updating that post as members of the group finish new mods.  Anybody anywhere can download our mods: when they click on the mod’s picture, they will get a link to download it from Dropbox.

Here are some guidelines for posting your mods:

  • Send the mod code and a picture of what it looks like to coderdojoathenry@gmail.com
  • Put a comment at the top with:
    • Your first name (e.g. “Michael from CoderDojo Athenry”) or your Minecraft handle: to look after your privacy online, never post your full name or other identifying information
    • A one-line description of what the mod does
    • If your mod has parameters, what they are for and what values work best
  • Put code near the top to set default parameters, e.g.:
    width = width || 10;
    This means: Set width to be equal to its current value, or if it is currently undefined, set it to 10
  • Check that your code looks fairly neat:
    • Use indentation: good spaces at the start of each line to line up the code
    • Include comments to explain things
    • Avoid commented-out code or code that does nothing
  • Test your code carefully and inspect its results to make sure it works as expected!

 

ModderDojo Athenry: Our ScriptCraftJS Minecraft Mods

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This is a list of Minecraft ScriptCraft mods that we have built in ModderDojo, which is part of CoderDojo Athenry. Contact us on Twitter at @coderdojoathenr.

All of these mods run on a CraftBukkit server and use Walter Higgins’ excellent ScriptCraftJS framework.

To download a mod, click on the image. Then copy the file into a folder inside the js-plugins folder, which you should be able to find under your ScriptCraft folder after installing ScriptCraftJS and running it.

All of these mods are open-source: you are welcome to download them, use them and modify them, but you must give credit to the original authors.

Rail Tunnel by Harry and Ivan: 2013-12-07_12.55.17

/js railer( )
A rail tunnel that can be placed underground. Uploaded 7 Dec 2013.

Beacon by Richard: 2013-11-30_12.47.36

/js beacon2( )
Makes a pyramid of emerald with a beacon on top. Uploaded 7 Dec 2013.

Stable by Richard: 2013-11-30_12.47.15

/js stable( )
Makes a detailed stable. Uploaded 7 Dec 2013.

Stone Farmhouse by Oisin: 2013-12-07_12.29.31

/js stonehouse( )
Makes a house of stone with garden and rooms inside. Uploaded 7 Dec 2013.

Iron House by Eoin: 2013-12-07_12.36.40

/js ironhouse( )
Makes a single iron house. Uploaded 7 Dec 2013.

Iron Street by Eoin: 2013-12-07_12.25.59

/js ironstreet( )
Makes a street with 6 iron houses. Required ironhouse() to be installed f irst. Uploaded 7 Dec 2013.

Pumpkin Patch by Mikey: pumpkin

/js pumpkin( )
Makes a Portable Productive Planted Pumpkin Patch. Uploaded 28 Nov 2013.

Apartment by Luke: apartment1

/js apartment(floors, width)
Multi-storey apartment with furniture on each floor. Parameters: floors (e.g. 10), width  (7 is best). Uploaded 23 Nov 2013.

The Castle by Conor: TheCastle

/js thecastle(floors, width)
Large castle with outer walls and keep. Parameters: number of floors in the keep (e.g. 3); width of the castle (e.g. 40). Uploaded 17 Nov 2013.

Surprise by Ruaidhri: surprise

/js surprise( )
To find out what this does, run it or read the code. Just add flint and steel! Uploaded 28 Nov 2013.

City Block by Ruaidhri: Citye

/js citye( )
Sky scrapers arranged in two rows with a road. Uploaded 17 Nov 2013.

Pyramid by Ruaidhri: PyrimidInside

/js pyramid( )
Pyramid with door and lights inside.  Uploaded 11 Nov 2013.

Wizard Tower by Conor: 2013-11-10_10.45.39

/js wizardtower(floors, width)
Round tower with side room. Parameters: number of floors (e.g. 6); width of tower (e.g. 10). Uploaded 11 Nov 2013.

Train Tunnel by Luke: Tunnel1

/js traintunnel( )
Tunnel with tracks and lanterns.  Uploaded 11 Nov 2013..

More to follow!

ModderDojo Week 5: Continuing to Build Complex Structure Mods in Minecraft

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2013-11-10_10.45.39

This week, we continued to work on our structure mods in ScriptCraftJS. Our plan is to build a whole set of mods that between them can be used to create a town/city.

Meanwhile, Eli in the group is working on Java-based modding and will help everyone else get started with it when we all move onto that topic later.

Some of the structures people in the group are working on:

  • A block of apartments
  • A street with skyscrapers
  • A castle
  • An iron house
  • A stable
  • A tennis court / soccer pitch
  • A subway
  • A giant face!

The picture with this week’s post shows a Wizard’s Tower built by Conor in the ModderDojo group.

Along the way, we will get practice of:

  • Turning ideas into designs and turning designs into code
  • Debugging programs when the result doesn’t match the design
  • Using variables, calculations, decisions and loops
  • Sharing code for others to download and reuse

Practical notes:

  • During development and testing, you can end up with lots of incomplete structures that slow down your CraftBukkit server. A simple fix is to delete your world:
    • Stop your CraftBukkit server
    • Open the CraftBukkit folder on your computer: in it you will see folders called world and possibly world_nether and world_the_end delete them all
    • While you are at it, edit server.properties in the CraftBukkit folder to make your new world superflat, write level-type=flat and you could also change other properties such as spawn-monsters=false
    • Restart your CraftBukkit folder to create a new, empty world
    • Re-run your scripts to recreate structures that you want
  • Read the ScriptCraftJS API reference to see what commands you can use for your structures: https://github.com/walterhiggins/ScriptCraft/blob/master/docs/api.md

Our Mods:

We have started to post mods here: https://cdathenry.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/modderdojo-athenry-our-scriptcraftjs-minecraft-mods/

We will add more as our modders finish them and make them available for posting. Stay tuned!

CoderDojo Athenry Information & Registration Session, 28 Sept 2013

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CoderDojoAthenry-InfoSession-2012-09-15

We had a great turnout for our information & registration session at CoderDojo Athenry on Saturday 28 Sept. We didn’t count the numbers, but we ran out of registration forms after 70 new sign-ups.

If you didn’t get to sign up, don’t worry – the first Saturday that you come along, you can fill out a registration form and jump right in.

If you are already registered from last year, you don’t need to register again.

Here are all the slides from the information session:

  1. Overview (Michael): CoderDojoAthenry-InfoSession-2012-09-15.pdf
  2. Scratch Beginners (Martha): CoderDojo_InfoSession_28_9-2013.pdf
  3. Scratch Advanced (Oliver): YearThreePresentation.pdf
  4. Python (Declan): Python who and why.pdf
  5. Claire (HTML): HTML_C_Lally.pdf
  6. Minecraft Mods (Michael): CoderDojoAthenry-Info-Minecraft.pdf
  7. Belts (Michael): CoderDojoAthenry-Info-Belts.pdf

As the picture above shows, we are planning 5 topics this season, spread over 4 rooms:

  • Scratch Beginners, led by Martha:
    • Aimed at the younger ones and those who are new
    • They will progress to Scratch Intermediate after a few months
    • If possible, download Scratch 2 here before next Saturday: http://scratch.mit.edu/scratch2download/
  • Scratch Advanced, led by Oliver:
    • Topics will include music, animation, file systems, operating systems, and a programming language
    • Aimed at those who have a yellow cert/belt in Scratch
  • Python, led by Declan:
    • Aimed at those who have Blue belts in Scratch or have being doing HTML and would like to try something different
    • Will be mainly command line based to begin, moving to Pygame later
    • Will also involve Raspberry Pi and electronics boards
  • HTML, led by Claire:
    • Create your own webpage
    • HTML, images, links, stylesheets
  • Minecraft Modding, led by Michael:
    • Aimed at the older/more experienced group
    • Will involve learning how to program in JavaScript and Java, which are advanced programming languages, to create new mods
    • NOT just playing Minecraft or installing other peoples’ mods!

As in previous years, CoderDojo Athenry will be on Saturdays from 12:00 until about 1:30 or 2pm, in Gairmscoil Mhuire VEC school in Athenry, Under 13s must be accompanied.

Please make sure you are on the CoderDojo Athenry mailing list: if you are not receiving weekly email messages from us, then send an email message to coderdojoathenry@gmail.com and we’ll add you.

See you soon!

Michael and the CoderDojo Athenry mentors.