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Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now
- zbruhnke 13y agoGlad to see this app launched. While I firmly believe that its not necessarily the best idea that "everyone" learns to code I think stories like this serve as a reminder that hard times fall on all of us. Thanks Patrick for not judging Leo to be someone he was not simply because he had fallen. Thanks for setting an example that sometimes its the littlest things, small acts of kindness that can set a person's life back on track. And Leo, Thanks for reminding us all that with a little perseverance we can accomplish anything we put our minds to.
- aashaykumar92 13y agoWhat a perfect week to launch the story in. Anyone can learn how to code once they put their mind to it.
- zipppy 13y agoSubtext: "...even a homeless person." Hmm.
- dntrkv 13y agoIs it me or did the video not explain the app at all?
- vertis 13y agoI have been thinking a lot about whether it would be possible to invest enough in someone that it got them off rock bottom. I guess this is proof that it is possible. It might be time to start asking the same question to some of the people around where I work.
- jnbiche 13y agoI think Macdonough was smart to offer $100 or the opportunity to learn to code. It was a good way to screen out unmotivated people -- if someone is homeless and turns down $100, it's likely that that they're very motivated.
- vertis 13y agoYeah, I'm not sure it's a 100% reliable method though. Depends how recently the person has eaten (etc).
- jrs99 13y agoI'm assuming they bought him a chromebook. That's like saying do you want $100 cash or a $250 chromebook and coding lessons.
- dhaivatpandya 13y agoBut unless he mentioned that when the decision was made, that should not affect the results.
- jrs99 13y agothat's true. i'm assuming when you actually ask someone: "100 bucks or coding lessons" the guy is going to be curious and ask a lot of questions.
- felipe 13y agoAre you arguing that lack of motivation is the root cause of homelessness, rather than poverty and mental health issues?
- vajrabum 13y agoNo, learning to code requires motivation. Turning down $100 in favor of coding lessons indicates that the person is motivated to try and learn to code. That's borne out by the fact that he's (maybe with some assistance) delivered an app to the marketplace.
- felipe 13y agoSo if I go to an upscale neighborhood and offer $100 at random, would that mean that anyone who refuses my offer is motivated enough to code? Of course not, that's silly. We are discussing within the context of homelessness, in which the guy is playing a game with a vulnerable individual by offering an amount that is far higher than a change, but far lower that any developer (even junior) would consider an offensive offer for a mobile app.
- soleimc 13y agoDoes this seem exploitative to other people? Although it is exciting that his app launched, the fact that this entrepreneur is being called "The Homeless Coder" seems wrong to me.
- UNIXgod 13y agoYeah. Sort of like the Wesley Willis of the hacking culture.
- tptacek 13y agoWesley Willis was schizophrenic and no amount of casual intervention was going to meaningfully improve his circumstances. And, yes, Willis was exploited terribly. This, today, is just a guy who wants to learn how to code. Good for him; I wish him the best.
- vertis 13y agoIt seems perfectly reasonable to market this as aggressively as possible. It's not like he's rolling in money, and it's not like his mentor is taking a cut.
- kennywinker 13y agoI think the difference is nobody is exploiting anybody else. "Leo the Homeless Coder" is exploiting himself for profit, but Patrick McConlogue is not exploiting anybody. I'm not 100% sure what his specific motivation was, but it doesn't seem like Patrick is attempting to profit off this in any way.
- jrs99 13y agoIt seems like an interesting social experiment. There was a documentary a while back of a homeless guy given $100,000 and no restrictions. http://voices.yahoo.com/a-homeless-man-blows-100000-free-money-as-seen-129377.html http://voices.yahoo.com/a-homeless-man-blows-100000-free-mon...
- fyrabanks 13y ago
- ujsfdo 13y agoYahoo! finalized acquisition talks, press release is embargoed until Thursday.
- kenrikm 13y agoTeach a man to fish. . . Purchased just to help him out, hope that 70¢ is helpful. Congrats to Leo.
- percentcer 13y agoHow did he do iOS development on a Chromebook?
- hayksaakian 13y agoHe might have used one of those cloud services that compiles your code on a Mac mini, but I don't know about him specifically.
- Edd314159 13y agoSince it's available simultaneously on Android, I'm assuming it's using one of those write-once build-anywhere mobile frameworks.
- elwell 13y agoidk, was it an html5 mobile app?
- alexcroox 13y agoJudging by that UI screenshot it's jQuery mobile so he probably used phonegap to wrap it in a native app for both iOS and Android.
- jonknee 13y agoHow would he use PhoneGap on a Chromebook? You still need to have X Code to sign an iOS application. I assume his mentor was the one who packaged them up for Android and iOS (especially since it's listed under his name on the iOS App Store).
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- TRUPPP 13y agoYou can package the Phonegap App with Phonegap Build, a service running in the cloud for exactly this plattform-problem.
- deleted 13y ago
- tomasien 13y agoThis is way better than my first app, oh my goodness! Of course it didn't get me a ride to the gym (I live in Richmond, VA, wasn't likely) BUT it did work flawlessly.
- aresant 13y agoI love the story here. While the PR is strong Leo should put on his conversion hat to generate actual downloads and turn this from a story into a success. 1) On the landing page, http://www.treesforcars.com http://www.treesforcars.com, he needs as strong of a brief headline as they have in the article eg: "Trees for Cars is a mobile application that aims to save the environment by helping users carpool to their destination." 2) Ditto on the app store description which, instead of the description, starts with a 3-liner clarifying Leo coded this himself. More pictures / longer description on the description will also help. Great primer @ Copyhackers on writing effective App Store copy http://copyhackers.com/2012/06/how-to-write-an-app-store-description-for-itunes/ http://copyhackers.com/2012/06/how-to-write-an-app-store-des...
- ivanhoe 13y agoIt's interesting to see how 1st world-ish are the problems that are being solved nowadays, even by a (hopefully not for long) homeless guy. Anyways, I'm really glad he managed to finish it, he's obviously a guy with lots of unused potential.
- vinceguidry 13y agoSolving real problems requires real leverage.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Procrastes 13y agoNicely done. It's great watching a new coder spread his wings.
- xacaxulu 13y agoI'll buy this app on positive karma points alone.
- recursive 13y agoI think that's the idea.
- kennywinker 13y agoI hate to be cynical, but it feels like this is mostly capitalizing on the idea of a "homeless coder". In order for the app idea to work, it needs people. Lots of people. A $0.99 app is never going to get enough users to be useful for MOST of us. If the idea and execution stood on its own, I wouldn't fault them for leveraging the backstory for media attention, but since the execution is favouring short term money at the cost of long term success, it feels like a cash-in. Not that there is anything wrong with donating to support someone homeless working to get themselves into a better situation... or anything wrong with someone who needs so much trying to cash-in. It just doesn't feel like a good faith attempt to reduce CO2 emissions, that's all.
- kenrikm 13y agoI purchased without the intent to use it, I consider it as more of a donation.
- bottled_poe 13y agoThat would be a donation to Apple or Google then. If you really cared, you'd take real action.
- kennywinker 13y ago70¢ to Leo, 30¢ to Apple/Google.
- tomasien 13y agoDon't tell people how to care. God I hate this comment so much, care however you want. Care a little bit and give him $0.70, care a lot and try to something, care any way you want.
- icpmacdo 13y agoDude get out of this thread now, so many of these comments are infuriating. This is possibly the worst HN thread I have ever read.
- brianbreslin 13y agoI would love to see this thread turn into suggestions/advice for Leo on how he can improve his app. I bought it, despite having little idea what it does, and just wanting to support him. My first suggestions if Leo ever reads this: - Add more pictures to the app page/listing in itunes - Show how it works - Why is ridesharing good for the environment
- quasarj 13y agoI thought he was in jail and his equipment had been taken, not to be returned for months? I haven't heard any updates on that lately.. Anyone know?
- felipe 13y agoHomelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some privileged narcissistic clown. Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an agent for social and environmental change.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- smtddr 13y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 ....every single time. Now watch as the comment section get destroyed. It's already the top-comment. By the time my comment is 12hrs old, this comment thread will take up 2 screen lengths and hardly any other comments will occur outside of it.... that is, if HN's algo doesn't drop this story from the frontpage in the next 15mins.
- chill1 13y agoWow.. Where do I begin with your comment? I very rarely get upset about comments on the internet, but yours is particularly revolting. When was the last time you stopped in your day-to-day life to try to help someone? And, I don't mean give money to a homeless person or donate to a charity. I have imagined myself doing what the "privileged narcissistic clown" -- as you call him -- did in this story. I haven't done it yet, but one of these days I am going to push myself enough to do it. I fail to see how he was patronizing the homeless gentlemen. It seems to me that he was treating the guy as a fellow human deserving of respect, and as having potential. If he didn't think he had potential, he would not have bothered. Seriously... what is wrong with you?
- felipe 13y agoI have a very close family member who went missing and eventually was found homeless. In the course of the investigation we found that several people exploited and took advantage of him for personal gain. If you study the issue (like we did) you will find that this is a common and recurring problem, as homeless people are mentally vulnerable and open to narcissistic individuals. Nothing against helping others -- I myself volunteered for social-change tech ngos for several years. My problem is in exploiting a vulnerable person for personal gain, which this guy is obviously doing.
- hngiszmo 13y agoOk, my name is Leo and I'm an Android developer. In 2000 I actually investigated the potential of dynamic ride sharing and came to the conclusion it is not feasible due to software being in the hands of the network and device providers. Later, when Android and iOS came along I had other stuff to do but noticed how many tried to enter in this market and my conclusion is still that you would have to seed it in a way that you get at least 10,000 users in one big city to start with. 10,000 global users will just not cut it by many orders of magnitude. Charging $1 for an app to try it out will not help to get to critical mass. Please, other Leo, make the first year for free for your own and nature's good. I'm dreaming of ad hock ride shares becoming a reality since sooooo long and guess it would only work if it was pre-installed and activated by default on many many phones but then it could really have a huge impact on the global CO2 output. Further thoughts on the app: Make it social: * Users should be able to pick who they want to ride with, including age, sex, car brand etc. Stricter filters are less rides. * Users should be able to pick who they don't want to ride with, little or bad feedback for example * Users should be able to contact their ride partners without sharing any Facebook names, phone numbers etc. * Optionally Users should be checked in on their rides for security. For extra paranoia, the app could send a special message to a contact person if the user doesn't check out from a ride. Ride sharing is little popular out of security concerns and full track of one's movement with check-in on a ride should reduce risks involved dramatically. * Let the driver define a price per km (for friends, friends of friends, others) * ask if you want more ideas. This is endless but I guess my post will not be noticed by the other Leo anyway ;)
- jackweirdy 13y agoLove the idea of this. Perhaps instead of "little feedback", which could leave people new to the app with no-one to carpool with, you could restrict results to those who have verified a Facebook profile. The idea being that friends can confirm users are who/what they say they are
- jnbiche 13y agoSorry, but you're asking a homeless guy who has just made his first app to make it free? Look, I'm all for nature, but I'm more for giving him a chance to make a good living.
- yapcguy 13y agoI hate this story. It's pure exploitation. Firstly, and most importantly, Leo is still homeless. Second, who the hell is Patrick McConlogue? This whole charade is like the film Trading Places, it's like those awful Bum Fights videos, it's Patrick using a homeless person as an object of amusement. Some aspects of the story seem implausible, e.g. how does a homeless person afford to pay the developer fees, or supply a valid home address and tax ID number for validation by Apple and Google, but I guess it doesn't really matter given the overall story. I think people like Patrick, along with the 'everybody can code' movement, do all programmers a disservice. It makes a mockery of those who treat software development as a true profession and craft. Finally, nobody seems to be talking about Leo's homelessness and how he's going to survive a bitterly cold winter, it's all about a stupid bloody app.
- smtddr 13y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 (seriously, you again?)
- yapcguy 13y agoWhat is your point exactly?
- jnbiche 13y ago>Finally, nobody seems to be talking about Leo's homelessness and how he's going to survive a bitterly cold winter, If everyone keeps talking about Leo and his app, he'll have more than enough money to get off the streets, assuming his homelessness wasn't caused by mental illness or addiction.
- yapcguy 13y agoIf the app sells on its own merit, great. However, if people are only buying the app out of charity for Leo, it's no different than any other sad story which gets media attention resulting in charitable donations. So what would the point have been of learning to code? Heck, the story might as well have been Leo getting taught a foreign language so he could do translation work over the internet via sites like CrowdFlower. The idea that homeless people can code their way out of a terrible situation, when well-fed, pampered and experienced programmers can't even make decent money from the app store, is simply a farce.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ChrisNorstrom 13y agoWoah... He beat me to it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6721221 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6721221 Actually a lot of people did. I had an rough idea for this but never got around to working on it. I do have Carpoolians.com registered though. I really hope apps like his become something everyone uses in 5 years. Generally, people might not think carpooling strangers together will work but, contrary to popular belief, it's already tried and true in the Washington, DC area. Slug lines, where strangers are picked up from park ride lots by drivers so they can all use the HOV lanes, have been operational for years without a murder or incident.
- tomasien 13y agoThis hasn't reached a flame war, did this get flagged off the front page? Is it because Slate is perhaps a marked site? This doesn't seem right, this is like a "Show HN" and followup to a story lots of people on HN have been following for a while now.
- bootily 13y agoEnough of the class warfare. But isn't the subtext that coding can save you or someone? Maybe but I doubt it. I haven't found that to be the case. Writing phone apps is a pretty bad way to go about making a living. Getting a real coding job, much better, not a guarantee of anything though.