Minecraft, a video game originally conceptualized by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson and later developed and published by the Swedish company Mojang. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft enable players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world.
With the objective to expose students to computer science, Microsoft and Code.org - a nonprofit institution - has recently revealed a Minecraft coding that will serve as a tutorial guide for kids and educators. It will be launched as part of the third annual global Hour of Code campaign which will take place on December 7 through 13.
Using the characters from the "Star Wars" films, Disney has also recently released an identical Code.org tutorial during the earlier part of this month.
Steve and Alex are the names of the characters that were used to teach the basic coding skills in the new Minecraft updates. Inspired by the game's environment, more than 100 million players are expected to enjoy this game around the world.
As reported by CBS news, in a press release, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that empowering every person across the world considering that the youth is being equipped with computational thinking and problem-solving skills to succeed in a highly digital world, is their mission's core part. With the collaboration between Minecraft and Code.org, Nadella, on behalf of Microsoft, said that they're aiming to generate creativity in the next generation of innovators in a way that is natural, collaborative and fun.
By putting blocks together that generates the computer code, the tutorial gives its users the chance to explore a 2-D Minecraft environment where they build structures which is actually meant for ages 6 and up. Consisting of 14 challenges, the video game also involves free play games that users can put into practice some of the coding skills which they have just learned.
