Status

[Captain Starbuck]

I've been working on two projects related to ScriptCraft, aka ScriptCraftJS.

Primarily I'm working on the code.

It's taken a while but I'm finally in production mode with this. After trying several IDEs including Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and Atom, I finally decided to use NetBeans. The latest version has some support for Nashorn. It's not great but it does what's required better than the others, IMHO.

I struggled for a long time with the build.xml which is used with the "ant" project builder. This essentially scripts the building of a project in a specific order. ScriptCraftJS uses this extensively to compile the code, put the JS files where they need to be, and especially to generate documentation from the source code. I've made a number of changes in this area, not for functionality but to make it more self-documenting and a littler easier to use. Bottom line on this is that now a complete rebuild is one click away.

I also struggled with a problem with the documentation generation. Long-story short minor changes were required to use this over Windows. And I found out the hard way that formatting the code will break the documentation. I'll work on this.

As of today though I have a good build for a new v3.2.2 over Minecraft 1.12.1 with JDK/JRE 1.8.141+.

I'm also working on the new ScriptCraftJS.org website

I have a shared host and I'm building the new site with WordPress. In this space, with all of the features I've been adding to the site, my shared account is constantly dying. I need to re-host this environment to a new low-end Virtual Private Server (VPS).

But because this is now taking so long, and I/we want this thing soon, I've decided also to cut back on some of the on-site features, and make better use of alternative resources.

So for example, rather than hosting a ScriptCraftJS plugin repo on-site, I intend for now to provide information and support for projects to be hosted on GitHub or maybe BitBucket. This will help to educate new developers about the value of getting backups, version control, documentation, issue tracking, and supporting Free and Open Source Software. I think that's a valuable lesson in itself.

With that I should be able to link GitHub/BitBucket login IDs to the site via single signon. That will help reduce registration issues but it will limit some of the ENewsletter and other features.

Also rather than supporting a full forum, I will probably just send people here to the established community - again, a good experience for newcomers to use common software.

And rather than hosting plugins on-site which has been the original intention, I think it might be better for plugin developers to create their own pages at Bukkit.org (etc) to host and monitor their own plugins in the open community.

It's been my deep desire to host this environment in a way that doesn't expose kids to awkward elements of the internet, so I'd still like to move toward bringing these features on-site in v2+. But for now, if I keep trying to get this all in a v1, we're all going to have to wait longer, and none of us want that.

Going forward with the code

Now that my development environment is ready for battle, I will be processing more of the Issues reported at GitHub. v3.2.2 will be a small update just to get established and make sure this is being done properly. I will need Walter's approval for the updates, and some beta sites before pushing the new release to production.

In v3.3+ there will be changes to the way we handle blocks and events. We keep falling behind with manual mechanisms in place, every time there is a great update to Minecraft. (Hey Walter, we need to talk about this. :) )  Other more involved Issues will also be processed with fixes and enhancements, and some of the pull requests will get retro-fitted in, with Walter's approval.

I have my own GitHub account and a ScriptCraft repo there. I will be pushing updates there as they are being made (starting tomorrow). Please remember that this is NOT the production cut of the software, this is just my fork which will be submitted for Walter's comments and approval. I will use separate branches of my master branch for development builds, though there is still no guarantee that my master branch will work. I will attempt to support my fork via Issues, and I will welcome your comments and alpha testing. But please remember that this is not live code, not the "official" ScriptCraft repo, and I will not process enhancement requests there or address issues with live environments. This is a Work In Progress. For official Issues, Enhancements and Bugs, please use the official repo in Walter's space. At some point I will create a branch (or use master) and ask for a general review before attempting a pull request to Walter's repo. Until then, please be kind and forgiving. :)

Going forward with the community

One of my drives here is to see more community built around ScriptCraftJS. We have Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Gitter, and this forum. These are outreaching media. The website needs to be a home for the community to come and see what's new, to see what code camps are being hosted worldwide, and to get new insight into how to use the software. I want it to be a place where people can find one another, share thoughts about what works and what doesn't with education an organizing events, and to help link people who want to learn with those who want to help.

Finally, rather than posting here about common/boring stuff, I've re-booted a personal blog and will be posting there on whatever I'm doing with ScriptCraftJS. Please feel free to visit, follow the new tags for #ScriptCraftJS and #Minecraft, comment, ask questions about my involvement, and even start your own blog on the topic. I hope that will serve as a constant update for what's going on with this project. For community announcements like this I'll post here.

Thanks to all for your patience. I hope this is all acceptable and that you will continue to provide feedback to help it all move forward. Most of all, use ScriptCraftJS and encourage others to do so. It's good for a Lot of reasons.

-- CaptainStarbuck ... aka Tony Gravagno

[Jon Ippolito]

Thanks so much for your stewardship of this great project. I'm hoping to deploy ScriptCraft around November for a college class, so I'm grateful for all you do to put it on a solid footing.

jon

[Captain Starbuck]

Thank YOU, Jon. I'm really hoping that your class can help to serve as a pilot project for new initiatives.

The website being written to be supportive of efforts like this:
- Event calendar to recruit participants and let people know what's going on in this little world.
- Fundraising to get a little support for code camps and other events where people say "I'd like to contribute but I don't know what I can do." We can give our time and efforts but classes sometimes need money to pay for a location, refreshments, etc.
- A place to exchange notes before and after an event.
- Code sharing and peer review among people in a group.

I'd like to understand what would help you to organize an event like this, and what would help as far as follow-up and establishing more group spirit to keep the energies flowing.