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.