How much scripting support is allowed for Minecraft commands?

Question

(As will become apparent when you start reading, I'm talking about Java Edition.)

Commands in Minecraft are very versatile, and new updates are making them even more versatile. There are lots of different questions out there that ask for how to accomplish different tasks, from as simple as giving items with enchantments, to complicated stuff like teleporting to scoreboard values.

But now I'm going to get into the more technical stuff.

Minecraft is known for being Turing-complete, not only in redstone, but also in commands, meaning that there's no limit to what the commands and redstone can do. It could even be argued that learning MC commands is similar to learning a new coding language, but having it integrated into a video game.

Being an avid computer science student, there are lots of questions related to the more scripting side of commands floating around in my brain. I want to find some place to post them and get answers, but I want to ask whether they would be appreciated here. I'm not as concerned about getting answers quickly, this is a question about whether these questions would be welcome on this great knowledge base. Some of the questions I would ask include things like:

1. How do I concatenate two strings in NBT?
2. How do I split a string at an arbitrary index in NBT?
3. How do I convert between different data types in NBT?

But I'm not sure whether I'm beginning to push the boundaries of gaming here. To what extent will these types of questions be welcomed? If not, what other sites would accept such questions?

This goes without saying, but of course I'll research this stuff first, but I doubt I'll find much because not many people "code" in Minecraft.

Answer 1

The example questions you've listed are nowhere near as complex as some that have already been "accepted" on this site and also answered. Here are some of my personal highlights:

• Using scoreboard values as index in an NBT array: Minecraft 1.14.4 dynamical sized integer array (The workaround for some limitations is pretty complicated.)
• Detecting rectangles: (Java Minecraft 1.14.2) How to recursively (or otherwise) determine if a closed 2D arbitrarily sized rectangle of blocks has been placed? (I wrote a datapack as part of the answer, with an advancement and seven function files.)
• One-command-creations: Copying & pasting multiple commands to Minecraft terminal (Someone wrote an online command generator based on my answer, because it's complicated to write manually.)
• Binary search without proper variables: Alternatives for setting up a digital clock in the scoreboard sidebar 1.15.2 (I used Regex to generate Bash commands to generate over a thousand function files.)

If a question is about an entire commands system that is even more complex, it's still fine to ask about some general ideas and input, for example this has been done here: How do I display how many ore are in a single vein?

It's mainly just a matter of scope. If someone dumps a 1000 character command into the question and says "this no work, plz fix" or if someone demands an entire adventure map to be made for them, then the question is too broad and should be more focused.

The answers to your first and second question are mainly made complicated by the fact that Minecraft doesn't have proper string manipulation commands, but there are workarounds. All three questions sound like they could be valuable additions to this Q&A site.