4 ms·

Why the Granny Coder decided to make her first iPhone game aged 77

59 points by dejv 17y ago

petercooper 17y ago
What a lady! This makes me feel ashamed for throwing in the towel with iPhone development simply because the method names were too verbose and hard to remember and the whole deployment profile/signing stuff.. :)
- jrockway 17y ago
  The things that annoy professional programmers are very different from the things that annoy "amateur" programmers. (I use quotes because I don't want to imply that this lady is not a good programmer or whatever. Her goals are to create a single fun game in her free time, so the things that annoy her are going to be different than what annoys someone who has to write a new "business app" every month.)
  - petercooper 17y ago
    That's a great point - I hadn't thought of that. 10 years ago I just put up with and accepted a lot of weird stuff related to programming because I was pretty much a novice and just got on with it. Now I've reached a point where I can question things.. just a bit too much though, it seems!
  - ciupicri 17y ago
    Just like in this graph http://flowingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/lisa-simpson-graph.jpg http://flowingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/lisa-simps...
- arithmetic 17y ago
  +1 makes me hang my head in shame.
cesare 17y ago
Very original marketing gimmick. Edit: as if it wasn't obvious enough, check the hands in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZATuhCoJLc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZATuhCoJLc Of course a story like this brings a lot of traffic to pocketgamer. It's not worth to check if it's true.
- daleharvey 17y ago
  "I have a huge support from my three grandsons. Michal bough me an iPhone as I mentioned, then they gave me a Mac, because I had a Windows PC. One of them is studying IT at university, so he is my adviser sometimes. And all three of them are watching everything I create and give me feedback. They've also made the videos on my blog." not that that means its not true, but still.
  - cesare 17y ago
    She knows how to code a game. She has learnt objective-c, Xcode, the iPhone sdk api and the chipmunk physics library. She also does her own graphics (a blog entry is titled 'How to polish your game', in two parts) with a style that is clearly made by a twentysomething and that would require a very sharp eye. But she couldn't operate a video camera?
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- tlrobinson 17y ago
  Heh, I wonder if "she" used my example iPhone + Chipmunk Physics project: http://tlrobinson.net/blog/2008/02/21/chipmunk-physics-engine-running-on-the-iphone/ http://tlrobinson.net/blog/2008/02/21/chipmunk-physics-engin...
alex_c 17y ago
The inevitability of growing old scares me like few other things. My biggest consolation is that I should be able to keep creating no matter how old I get - and unlike other passions, this passion of ours only requires a sound mind, not necessarily a sound body. I want to be like Marie when I grow up.
- rubentopo 17y ago
  It's such a relief for those of us who share that fear. I stumbled upon this letter yesterday, it's a complaint that a 98 year old lady wrote to her bank's CEO. (http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42630.asp http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42630.asp) These two ladies are an excellent example that age is not an impediment for doing things (or doing something about things...in the latter case).
  - cubicle67 17y ago
    Hmmm... the Internet seems to have helped develop in me a very strong level of cynicism such that I'd put the chances of this being genuine at < 5%, and the Granny Coder at about 40%
- ciupicri 17y ago
  Unfortunately in some cases the mind deteriorates too, not just the body. I knew a 90+ year old women who was pretty sane, but after two years she became retarded. She was asking me something, I was answering and after 5-10 minutes she was asking the same question again. Btw, I think that Grace Murray Hopper can be considered a model, too.
Raphomet 17y ago
Oh, man. From the title I thought _why came back in a brand new geriatric form - Why the Granny Coder. It's going to be a long day.
- HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
  http://www.whythegrannycoder.com http://www.whythegrannycoder.com is available if you're interested :-)
wallflower 17y ago
Inspiring. Another cogent example of how the reasons we give for not wholeheartedly pursuing a project challenge are really just excuses. I look forward to buying and playing her iPhone puzzle game. http://grannycoder.blogspot.com/ http://grannycoder.blogspot.com/
- callahad 17y ago
  I must say, I love how she starts her posts with "Hello, kids." I was as first offended, at least until I reconsidered what we look like from her perspective.

59 points by dejv 17y ago

What a lady! This makes me feel ashamed for throwing in the towel with iPhone development simply because the method names were too verbose and hard to remember and the whole deployment profile/signing stuff.. :)

jrockway 17y ago
The things that annoy professional programmers are very different from the things that annoy "amateur" programmers. (I use quotes because I don't want to imply that this lady is not a good programmer or whatever. Her goals are to create a single fun game in her free time, so the things that annoy her are going to be different than what annoys someone who has to write a new "business app" every month.)
- petercooper 17y ago
  That's a great point - I hadn't thought of that. 10 years ago I just put up with and accepted a lot of weird stuff related to programming because I was pretty much a novice and just got on with it. Now I've reached a point where I can question things.. just a bit too much though, it seems!
- ciupicri 17y ago
  Just like in this graph http://flowingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/lisa-simpson-graph.jpg http://flowingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/lisa-simps...
arithmetic 17y ago
+1 makes me hang my head in shame.

cesare 17y ago

Very original marketing gimmick. Edit: as if it wasn't obvious enough, check the hands in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZATuhCoJLc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZATuhCoJLc Of course a story like this brings a lot of traffic to pocketgamer. It's not worth to check if it's true.

daleharvey 17y ago
"I have a huge support from my three grandsons. Michal bough me an iPhone as I mentioned, then they gave me a Mac, because I had a Windows PC. One of them is studying IT at university, so he is my adviser sometimes. And all three of them are watching everything I create and give me feedback. They've also made the videos on my blog." not that that means its not true, but still.
- cesare 17y ago
  She knows how to code a game. She has learnt objective-c, Xcode, the iPhone sdk api and the chipmunk physics library. She also does her own graphics (a blog entry is titled 'How to polish your game', in two parts) with a style that is clearly made by a twentysomething and that would require a very sharp eye. But she couldn't operate a video camera?
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
tlrobinson 17y ago
Heh, I wonder if "she" used my example iPhone + Chipmunk Physics project: http://tlrobinson.net/blog/2008/02/21/chipmunk-physics-engine-running-on-the-iphone/ http://tlrobinson.net/blog/2008/02/21/chipmunk-physics-engin...

alex_c 17y ago

The inevitability of growing old scares me like few other things. My biggest consolation is that I should be able to keep creating no matter how old I get - and unlike other passions, this passion of ours only requires a sound mind, not necessarily a sound body. I want to be like Marie when I grow up.

rubentopo 17y ago
It's such a relief for those of us who share that fear. I stumbled upon this letter yesterday, it's a complaint that a 98 year old lady wrote to her bank's CEO. (http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42630.asp http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42630.asp) These two ladies are an excellent example that age is not an impediment for doing things (or doing something about things...in the latter case).
- cubicle67 17y ago
  Hmmm... the Internet seems to have helped develop in me a very strong level of cynicism such that I'd put the chances of this being genuine at < 5%, and the Granny Coder at about 40%
ciupicri 17y ago
Unfortunately in some cases the mind deteriorates too, not just the body. I knew a 90+ year old women who was pretty sane, but after two years she became retarded. She was asking me something, I was answering and after 5-10 minutes she was asking the same question again. Btw, I think that Grace Murray Hopper can be considered a model, too.

Raphomet 17y ago

Oh, man. From the title I thought _why came back in a brand new geriatric form - Why the Granny Coder. It's going to be a long day.

HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
http://www.whythegrannycoder.com http://www.whythegrannycoder.com is available if you're interested :-)

wallflower 17y ago

Inspiring. Another cogent example of how the reasons we give for not wholeheartedly pursuing a project challenge are really just excuses. I look forward to buying and playing her iPhone puzzle game. http://grannycoder.blogspot.com/ http://grannycoder.blogspot.com/

callahad 17y ago
I must say, I love how she starts her posts with "Hello, kids." I was as first offended, at least until I reconsidered what we look like from her perspective.