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Microsoft Debuts Minecraft-Themed Coding Tutorial
theodp writes: In a few weeks, writes Microsoft Corporate VP Mary Snapp, "millions of kids and others will participate in an Hour of Code, a global call to action to spend an hour learning the basics of coding. Today, it's my privilege to announce that Microsoft has released a new Minecraft tutorial for Hour of Code, called Hero's Journey." The release of the new Code.org-touted flagship Hour of Code tutorial -- the third since Microsoft purchased Minecraft Maker Mojang for $2.5B in 2014 -- comes as Microsoft celebrates Minecraft: Education Edition reaching a milestone of 2 million users.
Microsoft boasts that nearly 70 million of its Minecraft Hour of Code sessions have been launched to-date, which is certainly impressive from an infomercial or brand awareness standpoint. But does [adding a Scratch block to] move a Minecraft character forward 7 times on an $800 Microsoft Surface offer all that much more educational value than, say, moving a peg forward 5 times on a $10.99 Pop-O-Matic Trouble board game?
Microsoft boasts that nearly 70 million of its Minecraft Hour of Code sessions have been launched to-date, which is certainly impressive from an infomercial or brand awareness standpoint. But does [adding a Scratch block to] move a Minecraft character forward 7 times on an $800 Microsoft Surface offer all that much more educational value than, say, moving a peg forward 5 times on a $10.99 Pop-O-Matic Trouble board game?
you learn, if you want/need to learn. not because somebody else decided there is a need for it (usually because it helps their interests).
If we are allowing any comments other than snark, I'd argue the answer is YES. Making the activity about something they already have a passion for (minecraft) will attract a lot of kids and in the process maybe we find some kids who are really gifted that would not ever discover coding otherwise.
Minecraft is a platform, not a language. You can write plugins using C++, Python, or other languages. The video shows a Scratch-like drag-n-drop language. It looks like a good way to get kids interesting in programming.
Instead of a 'Minecraft Themed' tutorial on how to use Scratch, if they really wanted a Minecraft coding tutorial it should have been in Java and they should have made a Minecraft Mod.
Previous "Hour of Code" themes like Star Wars made a bit of sense to just be some clip art glued to a generic coding tutorial...but Minecraft is already a game and famously moddable. It doesn't make sense to program it in a completely separate language and engine.
It's like if they had a Perl themed 'Hour of Code' and they just used Scratch to march images of Perl code snippets around to form a picture of a program.
--Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
Arrogant windbag misses the joke, as usual.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Arrogant windbag misses the joke, as usual.
Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the next one.
lucm, indeed.
more people = stupider people.
According to History (and common sense), it's the opposite. You have a laptop to post on Slashdot, you have indoor plumbing in your mom's basement, and you have those piss-stained hello kitty panties that you stole from your sister's hamper to wipe your dick when you're done watching pornhub; none of those things existed back when the global headcount was in the low 8-digits.
lucm, indeed.
On careers.microsoft.com, a search for "programming" jobs returns more than 500 pages of results. GIven the volume of spam I get from amazon, google and countless headhunters, many other companies also are hurting for tech workers. Even the shitload of visa workers they bring in every year don't move the needle on this.
Maybe the real problem here is not the tech industry, maybe you just have issues that make you a poor candidate for real work. Do you wash your hands and put on clean underwears before going to job interviews? Clipping those long yellowing nails and removing the cheetos crumbs and dried kfc gravy from your beard could also help.
lucm, indeed.
Thank you! I learned on LOGO as well. It was great. After that, I moved on to that Lego programming where you could program motors, light sensors, and pressure sensors. It is called Lego Mindstorms now, but I was using it well before 1998, so I have no idea what it was called back then. That'll get you hooked for sure.