Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

namc.in

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 154 posts

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#71

Post by HenryBemis »

simias wrote: post #20
jjevanoorschot wrote: post #3

"Such kind of people give Women in Code a really, really bad name, because sweetie, it takes tonnes of hardwork, cutting through competition, persistent dealing with sexism and lot of patience to make place for yourself in this male-dominant coveted industry." It's quite ironic that in a sentence about sexism and a male-dominated industry, the author addresses the developer by 'sweetie'.

I see where you're coming from but I think the point still stands. Making a fraud the poster child for a cause is worse than having no poster child at all. In general I'm always very wary of "teenage prodigies" stories, they're very marketable but I think they're bad for everybody involved: on one hand the "prodigy" is on exhibit like some kind of circus freak and at this age is probably ill-prepared to deal with the…

Lying is lying irrespective of gender. No way a 16yo kid can design start-to-end an app, learn how to code, learn how to build the UI, etc.

Unless by "mentor" (as seen on the dialogue-screesnhot) means "X and Y designed this and that for me so all I did was put my name in the front page).

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#72

Post by arno_app »

I‘m sorry but the author is indeed a bully. I get the point why it may be unethical to copy and claim it’s someone’s own work but afaik the “real” coders were alright with this.

The author tries with all effort to proof that this kid can’t Code by saying how experienced he is and that he was also smart when he was her age. For me this sounds like being very jealous and frustrated.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#74

Post by whatshisface »

simias wrote: post #64
rep_movsd wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually have the entire source code so I have enough evidence. Obviously I can't reveal it since it would be illegal. But she gave it to me of her own free will, and if you think 10000 lines can be SO'd then you live in a bubble

If you want us to believe you without giving any proof you'll have to give us more evidence. Why did she give you the (incriminating) source? Why can't you reveal it? What in said source code convinces you she didn't write it?

Presumably, you could perform many of the decompiling steps that the author performed. A great deal of the parent article seems reproduceable.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#75

Post by hood_syntax »

HenryBemis wrote: post #71
simias wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see where you're coming from but I think the point still stands. Making a fraud the poster child for a cause is worse than having no poster child at all. In general I'm always very wary of "teenage prodigies" stories, they're very marketable but I think they're bad for everybody involved: on one hand the "prodigy" is on exhibit like some kind of circus freak and at this age is probably ill-prepared to deal with the…

Lying is lying irrespective of gender. No way a 16yo kid can design start-to-end an app, learn how to code, learn how to build the UI, etc. Unless by "mentor" (as seen on the dialogue-screesnhot) means "X and Y designed this and that for me so all I did was put my name in the front page).

They could, they just probably wouldn't be 16 by the time they finished learning how to do it.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#76

Post by yorwba »

radoslawc wrote: post #31
TomK32 wrote: post #14

Young women interested in programming rare enough, let her get some help, let her have all the praise, that's okay. In years to come she'll hopefully stick to the field and that's what is important. Not that she wrote 100% of her app. What we must never forget, writing the code is just the small part, marketing and selling software is the bigger challenge. She's obviously good at that and will prevail no matter what…

How do we help those that doesn't do frauds then?

Offer to review their code. Talented beginners tend to be unaware of the best/standard way to do things and are likely to produce code that works but is somehow strange. Point out how to do it differently when that happens, and make sure to explain the reasoning so they can avoid similar mistakes in the future. But don't give just negative feedback; also tell them when they have done particularly well, so they don't get discouraged. And sometimes just showing interest in what they are doing can be enough.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#77

Post by throwaway2016a »

I have a related question. Since when is a 16 year old who makes an app a prodigy? Even if she did write it all by herself?

I was getting paid to make back office software for local businesses at 13 in 1998 with absolutely no help from anyone and no one called me a prodigy. I'm sure tons of NH people have similar stories.

I seem to remember a survey at one point that the average person on HN who actually codes started coding at around 12.

Perhaps we should be teaching young people that coding is an obtainable goal that if you put your mind to it and work hard you can do? Not something you need to be a "prodigy" to do.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#78

Post by TorKlingberg »

FRex wrote: post #38
TorKlingberg wrote: post #29

It's not plagiarism, it's a team putting the 16-year-old in front for the media attention. The crypto currency space is full of dodgy stuff, so not surprising. The author of this post seem to have it out for the girl personally, which is unnecessary.

She personally claims to have written it all on her own, in the press release she also says she was intern at Sales force in Bangalore, attended MIT Launch and her profile says she is a "16 year old programmer and entrepreneur" along with a link to "my app". She also called the person disputing that a jobless disturbed bully, harasser and troll and due to internet "siding with her" the author was met with abuse for "…

Yes, that's what the current social media climate is like unfortunately. An internet mob harassing someone seems to be the default answer to everything, and each person participating thinks they are fighting for justice or something. I just don't think HN piling on is going to help.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#79

Post by zachlatta »

HenryBemis wrote: post #71
simias wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see where you're coming from but I think the point still stands. Making a fraud the poster child for a cause is worse than having no poster child at all. In general I'm always very wary of "teenage prodigies" stories, they're very marketable but I think they're bad for everybody involved: on one hand the "prodigy" is on exhibit like some kind of circus freak and at this age is probably ill-prepared to deal with the…

Lying is lying irrespective of gender. No way a 16yo kid can design start-to-end an app, learn how to code, learn how to build the UI, etc. Unless by "mentor" (as seen on the dialogue-screesnhot) means "X and Y designed this and that for me so all I did was put my name in the front page).

Don't underestimate young people.

We have hundreds of people doing this in https://hackclub.com, many of whom are 16 or younger.

Post reply on HN