Forum Archive

I just wanted to write to say a big heartfelt "thank you" for Pythonista.

My 8 year old son is dyslexic and he was always frustrated when he was younger that so many kids apps used text in their UI. So, he decided to do something about it! His thought he'd try to release his own kids app for his younger sister to use.

I showed him Pythonista and he took to it really quickly. He made a really fun free kids drawing app and we we're able to release it on the App Store using the export to Xcode feature.

It's now been downloaded all round the world and kids (and adults!) have been posting pictures made with it - something that's made him very happy (and me a very proud dad!)

You can check it out for yourself on the App Store if you want.

Thanks!

Simon

... and thank you to your son. I downloaded his app, and I'm sure my granddaughters will love it.

@smkirby Wishing there were a "like" button here. :-)

This is... remarkable. That an 8 year old programmed and released his own app is astounding. I downloaded the app, really well done for an 8 year old. Also, as more of a side request, smkirby, would you be able to post the source code on Github?

This is very neat. Impressive to begin with (if not else, for the fact that it was developed on iOS, for iOS) but the fact that an 8 year old boy made it is all the more amazing. Your son is awesome. I can't imagine how proud you must be. Would he be willing to provide me a Python training crash course ;-)

Very cool. Shake his hand for me. And then your own for doing such a good job as a father. Talk about a nerdy Father's Day gift!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I'll ask my son whether he wants to release the source code.

He started learning with the Scratch programming language developed by MIT, which is awesome. But he's really wanted to have a standalone app on ipad for ages. I thought it would be impossible (objective c would have been really tough, I think!) But python was a shallow learning curve and programming on the ipad really helped.

I had to help with a couple of bits but I was surprised how easy he found it. The tough part for him was understanding object orientation, but we found we could handle it by just building on what pythonista provides by default for a Scene script (a godsend!). Then my role was simply helping out when he got lost in the syntax and compiling it as an app when we were over in Xcode.

It really is fabulous that he can develop and release on a tablet like this. Incredible to think my son's app appears on the same store as all the rest of the software he uses! Also, he's been really inspired by getting itunes connect reports about all the countries it's been downloaded from.

Simon