Lesson 3 - Coding with Minecraft - Variables.pptx

1. Coding with Minecraft 4:
Variables

3. The importance of variables
The different kinds of variables
To code a game in Minecraft with variables

4. Number variable – This holds numeric data.
Examples: a person’s age, a player’s score, the year
String variable – This holds a string of alphanumeric characters.
Examples: a person’s name, a password, the day of the week
Boolean variable – This has only two possible values: true or false.
Examples: Is it daytime? Is the game over?
Position variable in MakeCode – A special kind of variable that holds three
numbers that describe a specific location in three-dimensional space.

5. CHICKEN STORM

6. CHICKEN STORM

7. CHALLENGE 1 - MEANINGFUL
VARIABLE NAMES
• Let’s change the code so we are not using
“num1”
• The name num1 does not represent
anything meaningful and could be hard to
understand a big block of code.
• Instead, name your new variable
“ChickenNum” because the number you
store is the number of chickens.

8. CHALLENGE 2 - GIVING
FEEDBACK
• Let’s have the chicken rain machine
speak back to you.
• Right before you the chickens start
falling the response would be “5
Chickens! Coming right up!” Then 5
chickens will fall on your head!

9. CHALLENGE 2 - GIVING
FEEDBACK
To do this, you will need to…
1. Figure out how to “say” things in the
chat window
2. Use the join block to put together
ChickenNum + “ chickens! Coming
right up!”
3. Put this new block in the right location
in your code. If you put it in the wrong
spot, the chat window will respond
many times

10. CHALLENGE 2 - GIVING
FEEDBACK

11. REVIEW
• What did your variable determine in
the game?
• Why is it good coding practice to
give variables meaningful names?

13. To code variables in Minecraft to:
• Count things
• Keep score
• Create a report of your game’s activities

14. ARROW
COUNTER

15. ARROW
COUNTER

16. CHALLENGE 1 - 10
ARROWS ONLINE

17. CHALLENGE 2 -
PROVIDING A MESSAGE

18. EXTENSION 1- TARGET
PRACTICE

19. EXTENSION 2- HOW
MANY RABBITS?

20. FALLS IN THE AIR

21. FALLS IN THE AIR - STEP 1

22. FALLS IN THE AIR - STEP 2

23. HOW DOES THE VARIABLE
WORK?

24. EXTENSION 1 - TRACK SWIM
DISTANCE

25. To use variables in Minecraft to:
• Count things
• Keep score
• Create a report of your game’s activities

26. LESSON C :
COMBINING VARIABLES

27. Combining variables to create
messages in the sky
Check our learning progress with a quiz

28. Make your own unique
situations
Combine the variables to
create chains of words
Create a variable that stands
for a word

31. To create your own MakeCode projects
that use variables to activate different parts of
your program

32. INDEPENDENT
PROJECT
For this project, create an original
MakeCode project that uses multiple
variables of at least two different types,
to keep track of information in
Minecraft.
Also, find a way to use a chat
command with a parameter.

33. INDEPENDENT
PROJECT
Information you might store in
variables / project ideas:
• Store the number of something you spawn
• Store text for the animal you spawned
• Store your position
• Store words to put together to make
sentences.

34. MINECRAFT DIARY
ENTRY
• What type of information did you choose
to keep track of?
• What problems did you encounter?
How did you solve them?
• How did you use variables in your project, and
what were their types?
• What did you name your variables and why?
• What was something new that you learned for this
project? Describe how you figured
it out.
• Include at least one screenshot of your project.