Programming doesn't have to be boring! Write your own Minecraft plugins and watch your code come to life with flaming cows, flying creepers, teleportation, and interactivity. Follow along with the book and add your own features to the Minecraft game by developing Java code that "plugs in" to the server. You'll manipulate and control elements in the 3D graphical game environment without having to write tons of code or learn huge frameworks. You don't need programming experience to get started---this book will teach you everything you need to know! Expand your Minecraft experience! You'll learn how to write Java code and build plugins for your own Minecraft servers using the popular Java programming language and the Minecraft Bukkit library. You'll create plugins that can change blocks from air to stone, or spawn cows and creepers. You'll write plugins that react to game events, and even schedule tasks that will run later in the game. Readers from age 9 to 99 will learn how to use variables and functions to build plugins that fling players into the sky, create flying creepers, and of course, shoot flaming cows. Along the way you'll learn real programming using Java, from classes, objects, and data structures (including arrays and hashes) to exception handling and threads. You'll even learn how to backup your code (and go back in time!) using Git, and set up and run your own server at home or in the cloud. A running progress bar shows you how far you've come in each chapter, and by the end of the book you'll be able to design and code your own plugins from scratch. Put your gaming to good use, and learn real programming skills today. What You Need: A modern PC running any of Windows, Mac OS X or Linux operating systems. You'll see how to download Java, the Bukkit library, and all the tools you'll need.

Andy Hunt has written and co-written over a half-dozen previous titles, including the classic The Pragmatic Programmer, Practices of an Agile Developer, and Pragmatic Thinking & Learning, and regularly speaks at conferences on software development around the world. He used Minecraft to help teach his son programming. When not wrangling bits, he's an avid musician and sometimes woodworker.