Item

Items and Blocks make up all of the usable resources in Minecraft. Items appear as two-dimensional sprites in the player's inventory, only appearing slightly three-dimensional when in the player's hand (as opposed to Blocks, which take on a three-dimensional appearance in both the player's hand and inventory).

Types

 * Raw materials are components that are used with or to construct other items.
 * Some materials are only dropped by mobs, making vanquishing them a necessity.
 * Others are derived from crafting, mining, smelting, or a combination of the processes.


 * Food is found or crafted by the player and eaten to regain health.


 * Plants are items found growing in the environment that can be collected and planted on blocks that meet the conditions for growth particular to the plant.


 * Tools are primarily used to break blocks faster than mining by hand, and are required in order to retrieve resources from blocks.
 * Buckets can transport liquids.
 * A fishing rod allows the player to go fishing as well as pull mobs closer.
 * A flint and steel is used to set flammable blocks on fire (for varying periods of time), and is necessary to create a portal to the Nether.
 * Saddles can only be used to ride pigs.


 * Navigators/Clocks, including the map, compass and clock, assist the player in the navigation of the landscape and the telling of time.


 * Mechanical Equipment, like pressure plates, levers and buttons, can be wired to objects that can be powered (such as doors or trapdoors) by redstone wire and thus can be used to trigger events remotely.


 * Weapons are used to defend the player from hostile mobs roaming a map or to kill passive mobs for food and materials.


 * Armor protects players from every kind of damage except suffocation. A full set of armor is comprised of a helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots.


 * Vehicles, such as minecarts and boats, allow the player to travel over land or water with relative speed and ease.


 * Records are inserted into a Jukebox in order to play a tune (once) before ejection.


 * Decorations are items that only have aesthetic uses. As of Beta 1.6, paintings, bookshelves, dyed wools, sapling, mushroom and flowers are the only decoration items available. Signs may also be considered decorations, but can be used for various helpful purposes, like in mineshafts or to show where property ends in a SMP map.

History
Items first appeared in Indev and continue to be available in Infdev, Alpha, and Beta. Notch confirmed that all items from the current survival mode will be placeable in the future Creative Mode, but how items will eventually work remains to be seen. However, Notch stated that he would not be updating that version of the game anymore, and it is labeled as "outdated" on the Minecraft website.