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Dev tools · August 20, 2020

MB

My brother wrote this program from jail

Hi HN!, My brother got a 5 years jail sentence but is coming out soon, a few months ago he decided to learn to code with no prior experience. I find the way he is studying very inspirational so decided to post his (simple) program. But first, here is what he needs to go through to learn: - We the family send him javascript and html books - He studies them and writes programs in pen and paper - He calls me so I input what he wrote on my computer and we debug it live via a phone call, he has to imagine the program in his head. The crazy part is up until a few days ago he didn't have access to…

My brother wrote this program from jail launched on August 20, 2020 with 48 votes, #765 of 3,833 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.

Alternativestop 20% of August 2020

In plain words

This is a simple JavaScript and HTML program written by someone learning to code while incarcerated. The developer studied programming books, wrote code by hand on paper, and debugged it via phone calls with family members who tested his work on a computer. The program demonstrates the fundamentals he learned through this unconventional self-study method, undertaken with extremely limited access to actual computing resources.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hi HN!, My brother got a 5 years jail sentence but is coming out soon, a few months ago he decided to learn to code with no prior experience. I find the way he is studying very inspirational so decided to post his (simple) program. But first, here is what he needs to go through to learn: - We the family send him…

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