Minecraft Forums

First of all, I want to say that this idea isn't mine, and is PocketEdition_
Miner's. However, I agree!

I've noticed that, while many people on the mod forums understand the concepts of ModPE scripts, they tend to get tripped up with JavaScript's syntax. So when I saw Miner's request, I immediately understood his idea: to create an application to generate ModPE scripts for non-programmers.

While he was thinking of a text editor with format aids, I thought that this approach might still be too attached to JavaScript syntax, and would thus still confuse people. So why not use a different type of language, suited for beginners?

I've played around with block-based programming languages before, and they seem to be good ways to introduce beginners to programming.

For example, Scratch allows users to create graphical applications by dragging and dropping statements, loops, and method calls. The Lego Mindstorms SDK does the same for robot control. Finally, MIT (formally Google) App Inventor uses this drag-and-drop paradigm for Android app development.

Here's what drag-and-drop programming looks like:



And here's the output:

var potato;


if (1 + 1 == 2) {
  potato = 'vanilla';
}

I am wondering if anyone can create a similar application for ModPE scripts. There are existing frameworks for drag-and-drop languages: for example, Blockly. I'm sure you can find tons more. Then, all you have to do is to write code to define each ModPE script element as a block, and you should be able to generate ModPE scripts.

I hope someone can make this idea come true.

(sadly, I cannot make this idea myself as I don't have the time right now, but I would love to see someone else take this idea!)