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, and smelting, or a combination of the processes.


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


 * 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.
 * Fishing rods allow the player to go fishing as well as pull mobs closer.
 * Flint and steel is used to set flammable blocks on fire (for varying periods of time), and is required in order to create a portal to the Nether.
 * Saddles can be used to ride pigs.
 * Shears are used to collect wool from sheep, string from cobwebs, tall grass, leaves, and vines.


 * Informative items, including the map, compass and clock, assist the player in the navigation of the landscape and the telling of time.


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


 * Armor protects the player from any kind of damage (excluding suffocation, drowning, being in fire (but not standing on a fire block), poison and falling into the void). A full set of armor is comprised of a helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots.


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


 * Decorations are items that only have aesthetic uses. As of Beta 1.8, paintings, records, and Dyes are the only decoration items available.

History
Items first appeared in Indev and continue to be available in Infdev, Alpha, and Beta. In Beta Creative mode, they act normally, but shovels, pickaxes, etc. do not make the operation of breaking blocks slower or faster.