[Steering Committee] Draft: Introduction to Programming with Minecraft Mods

Tue Jun 30 11:17:17 PDT 2015

OK. No other feedback, so I'm going to send it out. I'll talk to Vance 
about forwarding to the Techlahoma list(s).

On 6/30/15 7:06 AM, Windler, Mayumi A. wrote:
> I made some corrections below:
>
>
> Greetings, Oklahoma City tech community! Do you have a son or daughter 
> (or niece, nephew, grandchild, super-friendly neighborhood child) who 
> loves Minecraft? Does said Minecraftian have an interest in learning 
> how to program? If so, this is your lucky day. The Oklahoma City Java 
> User Group would like to invite you and 0 or more or pint-sized 
> precocious progeny to our July session where we'll be offering an 
> introduction to programming using Minecraft modding as the goal.
>
> *What will we be doing?* We're going to be getting an introduction to 
> various programming concepts (types, variables, loops, conditionals, 
> classes, etc) using the Java programming language. Having a concrete, 
> usable goal is always more interesting, so we'll learn these concepts 
> as we develop (and RUN!) simple Minecraft mods.
>
> *Will my /CHILD<Relationship>/ be an expert programmer or modder when 
> we're done?* Probably not, but the hope is that this session will be 
> enough to flatten the learning curve a bit, leaving each child 
> well-equipped for further study, either self-directed or with you, as 
> well as with a taste for how fun programming can be.
>
> *How old does you mini-me need to be?* That's entirely up you. If you 
> have, say, a 6 year-old who's comfortable with compilers and API docs, 
> then that's old enough for us.
>
> *Is there anything we need to install before we come?* There certainly 
> is. Our time will be limited, so it would be extremely helpful to have 
> a basic, working environment already set up. While you are free to use 
> any IDE you want, I will be using NetBeans, the Free (and TOTALLY 
> AWESOME) IDE from Oracle, which can be downloaded from 
> http://netbeans.org. You will also need a working Java environment, as 
> well as a relatively current copy of the Minecraft Forge plugin 
> development kit. I'll have detailed instructions at the end of this 
> email to help you set up your environment.
>
> *This sounds great? When and where is it?!* In a departure from our 
> normal schedule (which will be significant only for normal JUG 
> attendees), we will be meeting on Monday, July 13 at 11:30AM at 
> Prototek, which is located at 10th and Hudson in Oklahoma City 
> (https://goo.gl/maps/tD26c). You can park in the dirt lot Hudson, just 
> north of Park Place. Do not park ON Park Place, as I own both that and 
> Boardwalk, and my improvements there are guaranteed to ruin you.
>
> *What should we bring to the session?* To participate, you will 
> obviously need a laptop to work, with one per laptop per child being 
> ideal. If you are bringing multiple wee ones and need to share, that 
> would be fine. If you don't have a laptop and just want to come 
> listen, that will work as well. :)
>
> *That's right during lunch. What's wrong with you people?* Nothing 
> that some free pizza can't solve, so bring your appetites!
>
> *Is there anything else we need to know?* That's about it. Come 
> prepared to have fun and learn. And don't forget your questions!
>
> We're pretty excited about this session and hope to see LOTS of kids 
> come out for a fun time.
>
> *Detailed Pre-Meeting Instructions*
>
>
> I made that really large for two reason: I really wanted to use that 
> formatting bar in Thunderbird that I've ignored for so long, and I 
> wanted to make sure you don't miss this part. :) You *can* come and 
> set up your laptop at the meeting, but we won't have time to do that 
> as a group, so we'll have to keep moving while you're setting up. If 
> you have to do that, that's fine. I hope to conscript a few of the JUG 
> leaders to act as workshop assistants in case anyone needs help 
> installing the various pieces. Another issue is bandwidth: Prototek 
> will let us use their wifi, but regardless of their bandwidth, when 
> two dozen people start downloading all of the dependencies, it 
> probably won't be fast. :)
>
> What do you need to download then? These three things:
>
>  1. Java -
>     http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index-jsp-138363.html.
>     You will need the Java SDK, and I would suggest the latest
>     version, which is currently Java SE 8u45. Download the installer
>     appropriate for your platform and install it.
>  2. NetBeans - https://netbeans.org/downloads/ - You will need the
>     Java SE version. Again, get the installer appropriate for your
>     platform and install it.
>  3. Minecraft Forge -
>     http://files.minecraftforge.net/maven/net/minecraftforge/forge/1.8-11.14.1.1341/forge-1.8-11.14.1.1341-src.zip
>     - There are platform-specific installers, but I'd just get this zip
>
> With those downloaded and installed, extract the zip file (using the 
> tool of your choice) in a directory. Mac and Linux users can do this:
>
>     $ cd ~
>     $ mkdir MinecraftMods
>     $ cd MinecraftMods
>     $ unzip $PATH_TO_ZIP/forge-1.8-11.14.1.1341-src.zip
>
> Wherever you've extracted, you will need to open a shell (or command 
> prompt) and run this command in that directory:
>
>     $ ./gradlew setupDecompWorkspace --refresh-dependencies
>
> (Windows users can leave off the leading ./)
>
> Once that is done, open up NetBeans, then click File | Open Project 
> and navigate to this directory. Hopefully, this directory will show up 
> as a Gradle project. If it does not, you will need to install the 
> Gradle plugin ( Go to Tools | Plugins and install "Gradle Support".) 
> After a few seconds, you should see the project open in the Project 
> view, with several nodes beneath in the tree. To test things, click on 
> the project node (it should be called MinecraftMods), click Tasks, 
> Run, and runClient. After a few seconds, you should see Minecraft 
> start up. Congratulations, you should be ready to go.
>
> *Whew! That's kind of hard to follow!* If you're like me and like to 
> see pictures, you can see these same instructions on the NetBeans blog 
> at 
> https://blogs.oracle.com/geertjan/entry/seamless_minecraft_forge_in_netbeans.
>
> *But I don't like NetBeans. I like pain!* There may be some Eclipse 
> fans out there. If just /have/ to use Eclipse, you can generate the 
> Eclipse project files by running "gradlew eclipse".
>
> *NetBeans is nice and all, but I prefer to buy things. Can I use 
> IDEA?* Sure! Just run "gradlew idea" to generate the project files.
>
> *Is that "all"?* Should be. Pretty simple, huh? :P If you run into 
> problems, try to do as much as you can before you come, and you can 
> either ask for help on the JUG mailing list 
> (http://okcjug.org/contact-us) or, worst-case scenario, wait until the 
> day of the JUG and get help there (though it would help to arrive 
> early ;).
>
>
> -- 
> Jason Lee
> http://cubtracker.com  
> http://blogs.steeplesoft.com
> http://twitter.com/jasondlee
> http://blogs.steeplesoft.com/+
> http://blogs.steeplesoft.com/in
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> sc mailing list
> sc at lists.okcjug.org
> http://lists.okcjug.org/listinfo.cgi/sc-okcjug.org
> http://wiki.okcjug.org
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/okcjug/

-- 
Jason Lee
http://cubtracker.com
http://blogs.steeplesoft.com
http://twitter.com/jasondlee
http://blogs.steeplesoft.com/+
http://blogs.steeplesoft.com/in

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okcjug.org/pipermail/sc-okcjug.org/attachments/20150630/1d768a34/attachment-0002.htm>