This year In-Depth is a bit different because it is entirely virtual. Luckily I have chosen a skill that is actually easier to do virtually. To put it in simple terms, the skill that I have decided to learn about is computer programming. This has always been an interesting subject for me, and for a while I have wanted to learn it. My father has a degree in computer science and currently has a career in that field. When I thought about what skill I could use for my in-depth project, I thought about doing programming, and I remembered that there would be many benefits to choosing it, because I have many people that would be able to mentor me. I thought about it a little more and decided that I liked the idea. My end goal is to code a usable plugin (modification) to Minecraft.

My mentor is a colleague of my father. She has been a family-friend for a long time, and she has a degree in computer science as well! I have talked to her many times over the years and we seem to get along well so hopefully it will work the same over the course of this project.

I think the first step will be to discuss everything with my mentor and make sure we are on the same page. After that I will need to learn the basics of java (a coding language) and start to experiment on how it works. I will of course be recording everything down as I go in a journal specifically for the In-Depth project. I’m going to try my best to stay organised as I go because that makes everything easier. I am planning to meet with my mentor at least 3 times a month, and on days where we aren’t meeting, I will be practicing the material that we went over in the previous meeting.

I am really looking forward to this project! I hope it goes as planned.