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Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

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Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#21

Post by fuzzfactor »

smithza wrote: post #10

I want to only comment that your level of knowledge and maturity at the age of 17 is very impressive. The topics being investigated and exploited are expected at an undergraduate level and even then, this project would be in the Graduate level course. My hat is off to you and wish you a successful career.

I'm impressed too, this is an excellent head start.

Years later as a still-young technology enthusiast it would be likely that even more impressive projects will be accomplished. By then it may be largely unknown how advanced this was at this young of an age. Simply because there will be other sharp minds that do impressive stuff but only got started in their 20's, and reaching the same age they would be considered by most observers as peers.

But this head start will be an unfair advantage that can be made to last forever anyway.

Even if it does turn out to be kind of like a "secret weapon" after a number of years or decades.

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#22

Post by InCityDreams »

jacknews wrote: post #20
raarts wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a (former) employer I definitely think his age is relevant.

It's maybe relevant on a CV, not so on HN, which is for 'look at this', not 'look at me'.

...remembering what i was doing at 17, it's relevant to myself, and i reckon future employers and also education establishments may find it relevant.

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#23

Post by brynbryn »

jacknews wrote: post #11

Very well done, and I hope you build this out further, but please leave out the 'as a 17 yo'. I really don't think it's relevant and risks coming across as cloying - your work should (and does) stand on it's own.

I disagree about the age. It provides context, and provides inspiration to others. I think he has done a fantastic thing and we don't need to be negative for the sake of being negative

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#24

Post by raarts »

jacknews wrote: post #20
raarts wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a (former) employer I definitely think his age is relevant.

It's maybe relevant on a CV, not so on HN, which is for 'look at this', not 'look at me'.

So you think employers don't look on HN?

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#26

Post by koolba »

First glance through the project and it seem well organized. Kudos!

How long have you been programming and what languages did you start off with? I know quite a few developers decades older than you that still don't know how to write a Makefile [1].

What's the deal with the inline emojis in the source? Is that what all the cool kids are doing these days or does it just force you to be mindful of non-ASCII input?

[1]: And even more that cannot write or understand dynamically generated targets...

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#27

Post by SushiHippie »

jacknews wrote: post #20
raarts wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a (former) employer I definitely think his age is relevant.

It's maybe relevant on a CV, not so on HN, which is for 'look at this', not 'look at me'.

I think it's okay, otherwise this wouldn't have landed on the front page (less likely at least). And it's only on HN and not on the GitHub repo. If it would be stated on GitHub, I'd agree with you.

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#28

Post by trmpakufnfee »

Awesome. I wish I had this level of dedication when I was young.

I recommend you to participate in programs like Google Summer of Code, KDE Season of Code, Linux Foundation LFX, and X.org EVoC. There are some very interesting problems to solve. I wish I had known about them when I was student. Now I am working in Full time job, therefore have no time to contribute to open source.

Keep up the good work.

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#29

Post by pjmlp »

Congratulations, good luck with your projects.

Compilers was one of the first rabbit holes that drove my interest into computing.

One of the books that I endless read multiple times, is nowadays available for free, and eventually interesting for your reading collection, even though it is about the compiler part not debugging.

"Compiler Design in C"

https://holub.com/compiler/

It is a bit oldie, but maybe interesting.

Re: Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger as a 17-year-old

#30

Post by ricardobeat »

brynbryn wrote: post #23
jacknews wrote: post #11

Very well done, and I hope you build this out further, but please leave out the 'as a 17 yo'. I really don't think it's relevant and risks coming across as cloying - your work should (and does) stand on it's own.

I disagree about the age. It provides context, and provides inspiration to others. I think he has done a fantastic thing and we don't need to be negative for the sake of being negative

You’re right about the inspirational aspect, but when highlighted by the author themselves it does feel a bit unnecessary, and it detracts from the project. Half of the comments are on the subject of age.
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