You agreed to work without a contract? You LET yourself be taken advantage of. Don't make it sound like you were an innocent bystander. I'm sorry you are upset

You agreed to work without a contract? You LET yourself be taken advantage of. Don't make it sound like you were an innocent bystander. I'm sorry you are upset but it really seems like you did everything wrong in this situation. You need to do some reading about employment law and employee rights, specifically as they pertain to software development. It's a bad situation, and other employers might have been a lot more charitable towards you for taking initiative. But that's what it would have been... charity. From what you've told us, they don't owe you anything. Consider this a painful lesson and move on.