Stone Slab

Stone Slabs, or Half Steps, are craftable blocks, crafted using three stone in a horizontal line. Stone slabs are half as high as a normal block and can be walked up without jumping.

Stone slabs are different from cobblestone or wood stairs in that stairs form a steeper incline (1:1 rather than 1:2). Stone slabs are used on slopes that are not very steep and easy to climb.

Placing two stone slabs on top of one another will create a full block with the appearance of two slabs stacked. As of Beta 1.3, breaking it will yield back two stone slabs.

Although stone slabs, wood slabs, sandstone slabs, and cobblestone slabs can be put on top of each other, you cant have two different slabs directly on top of one another, this is shown in this video.

History
In Classic and Survival Test, stone slabs could be obtained by mining a coal block because of the lack of inventory and crafting.

Stone slab blocks were called stair blocks before the current stairs were added; then known as steps (the two forms being single steps and double steps) before all items got official names. Before Beta 1.3 came out, stone slabs were made with cobblestone instead of stone, but that update introduced cobblestone slabs to the game and otherwise the two crafting recipies would have been identical.

Trivia

 * Despite the fact that sneaking gives a player an apparent height of 1.5 blocks, doing so does not allow the player to walk over a single stone slab with only a single empty block above it.
 * A player can not walk from a block of soul sand to a stone slab without jumping.
 * If you put two stone slabs next to each other in water, you can place a ladder on the stone slab (which is otherwise impossible). Additionally, the ladder is invisible.
 * Single slabs have the tendency to let through arrows shot from above.
 * Single slabs will destroy gravel and sand blocks that fall onto them.
 * When pushed onto a stone slab by water, one will jump.
 * Double stone slabs cannot be made when there is a block above the single slab. Only single slabs can be placed in one-block-high gaps.
 * Single slabs are marked by the game as transparent, even though they affect light like a regular solid block. Thus, single slabs do not cause suffocation and you cannot place torches or other fixtures on them.

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