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A comment on Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my first iPhone game. Parent comment

Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by nirvana on Friday November 02, 2012 @09:02PM (#4735539)
When I was 14, you couldn't just go buy a "personal computer", as the minicomputer revolution was underway. So, I had to build my own computer... and I did. (I think I started at 13, and finished at 15).

When I say, I built my computer, I mean I designed a PCB, laid it out, etched it, assembled it, then needed to build a display board to output to a TV, which was another several months of design, etc. And when I had all that... then I had to start writing some sort of software for it! (EG: I had to write software, build an EPROM programmer (because they were expensive) burn EPROMS ..... all to get to the point where I could start working on making an implementation of BASIC!

So, when people complain that "kids can't hack on iPhones" ... well, I think its silly. You buy a Mac and you get a fantastic IDE and development platform for free, etc.

To the OP: Congrats on making your game! It looks very professional. Keep at it!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by knowledgesale on Saturday November 03, 2012 @03:26AM (#4736121)
That is remarkable, yet the thread somehow more and more resembles this nice Monty Python's sketch: http://youtu.be/Xe1a1wHxTyo
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by Typhon on Saturday November 03, 2012 @06:06AM (#4736299)
Monty Python ? In my days, we were happy watching 'At last the 1948 show !'
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by gnarbarian on Sunday November 04, 2012 @02:06AM (#4739181)
This is one of my favorite Python sketches.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by Keyframe on Friday November 02, 2012 @09:08PM (#4735551)
Oh the day I made spectrum joystick interface all on my own as a kid! I enjoyed that more than playing games subsequently. OP enjoy being a kid, the more you learn, the less your thinking is unbounded! Never forget that.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by nakkiel on Friday November 02, 2012 @10:48PM (#4735761)
This deserves more attention. It's easy, as a kid, to crack doors open that would take a tremendous amount of effort as an adult.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by pooriaazimi on Friday November 02, 2012 @09:08PM (#4735553)
I wish I was you, then ;(

Having to build a computer (with your definition of building, of course) as a young kid... God, that's the only Heaven I want. After those two years you can send me to Hell.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by tripzilch on Sunday November 04, 2012 @06:20AM (#4739491)
Why, when I was a young programmer we had to write the code in the snow with our pee, and a compiler was just a word for the pilot of the hovering dirigible that read the instructions and passed them to the ALU, which was another fellow with an abacus. They would wrap the results around a rock, and drop it on my house when the program would exit. We had to walk uphill...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by krzyk on Saturday November 03, 2012 @03:09AM (#4736107)
"You buy a Mac and you get a fantastic IDE and development platform for free, etc."

Buy a Mac to hack on iPhone? I don't think that any IDE is so costly if you develop on any other phone.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by drewmclellan on Saturday November 03, 2012 @03:59AM (#4736160)
Just for reference, a quick search reveals that MS VisualStudio can be purchased "from £502" (UK) and a new Mac mini starts at £499.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by TsiCClawOfLight on Saturday November 03, 2012 @04:12AM (#4736181)
Eclipse and android SDK?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by drewmclellan on Saturday November 03, 2012 @04:48AM (#4736225)
Of course. The comment was "I don't think that any IDE is so costly if you develop on any other phone".

That said, I'd happily pay £500 to not have to use Eclipse, but each to their own.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by tripzilch on Sunday November 04, 2012 @06:24AM (#4739495)
> That said, I'd happily pay £500 to not have to use Eclipse, but each to their own.

You must have gotten a lot of pocket money when you were 14, then.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by NicoJuicy on Saturday November 03, 2012 @06:39AM (#4736341)
Or you use Visual Studio Express C# which is free. Visual Studio (payed) combines all tools, all languages together and works with git, sourcesafe and many, many things more.

Or if you're a startup, you can receive all Windows stuff for free ;) (so you don't have to pay)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by omegant on Saturday November 03, 2012 @10:09AM (#4736627)
That's interesting! How can you get all the visual studio for free if you are a start up?
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Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by Jare on Saturday November 03, 2012 @12:03PM (#4736902)
I think he's referring to the BizSpark program: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by omegant on Saturday November 03, 2012 @03:54PM (#4737690)
Thank you.
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Re:Show HN: I'm 14, I learned Objective-C, and this is my fi... by eps on Sunday November 04, 2012 @08:03AM (#4739656)
Woz? Is that you?
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