“Learn to Program with Minecraft Plug-ins” (http://tinyurl.com/nnwctde) is a new book from Pragmatic Bookshelf that teachers you how to write your own Minecraft plug-ins and watch your code come to life with flaming cows, flying creepers, teleportation, interactivity, and more.

Follow along with the book, and you’ll learn to add your own features to the Minecraft game by developing Java code that “plugs in” to the server. You’ll manipulate and control elements in the 3D graphical game environment without having to write tons of code or learn huge frameworks. You don’t even need programming experience to get started.

For example, you’ll learn to 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 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 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.

“Learn to Program with Minecraft Plug-ins” is available for e-readers in epub, mobi, and PDF formats direct from the publisher and in paperback from fine bookstores worldwide. It costs US$29 for the paperback version and $19 for the ebook version.