Programming

Open source · age 16

Namesake

What it is

Namesake is a US non-profit that publishes free name-change guides and tools for trans people, built by and for the trans community. It’s an open source project.

What I did

Five changes accepted into Namesake’s code in my first week, the summer after Year 11. A pull request is a proposed change that the maintainers review and accept. Mine:

• fixed the interactive support map on the homepage, where clicking a state had stopped working
• fixed a bug that stopped images loading for developers
• rewrote how website addresses are shown in the support directory, with tests
• added seven organisations to the directory
• made the developer tooling set itself up

I also proposed and co-authored the idea of the blank-forms downloads. I’m now doing some research for the project, which is still in progress.

What was hard

The map fix took the longest: I spent a lot of time running scripts in the browser to debug why the bug was happening. It was a real ‘problem solving’ bug fix instead of simple human error. Hovering over a state reordered that state so that the cursor was no longer selecting it when you clicked it. The fix was to draw the outlines on a separate layer so hovering doesn’t move anything, which I then pushed.

Aside from the code, the cause also matters to me; especially with everything going on in the US.

What I took from it

My first project involving true collaboration between many people in a large codebase. I learnt many best practices for collaborating with code and it has made me start looking for more opportunities like this. It also got me further invested in the cause.

Web development · since age 14

This website

What it is

The site you’re on: HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with lots of little features I wanted to build dotted around.

What I did

Everything, I use this site as a test ground to see what I can build. So, there’s a lot that most people never see: end-to-end, visual regression and accessibility tests across three browsers, Lighthouse performance budgets, linting, checks that run on every change, a public status page with uptime monitoring, and analytics.

As I incorporate AI more into my work, it being such a powerful tool, I have been offloading the more tedious jobs, like design. My favourite code is always the backend so getting AI to write some CSS is a big relief. All of the initial website was hand-coded, before AI was big.

What was hard

Learning all the best practices and techniques. I use this website as a way to experiment, so adding a new feature usually means learning how to do it properly first: visual regression tests, accessibility checks, and analytics that only load after consent.

Also, I tend to over-engineer, and never actually write any content. The hardest part is often just making the content to fill up all the pages and features I add.

What I took from it

I have been able to implement many cool features, many of which cannot be seen. I have learnt much about coding techniques and third-party-app integration. It is also a test of whether I can keep a project up-to-date consistently through a long period of time.

Built for my grandparents · age 13

TechAssist

What it is

Simple written and video guides for everyday computer tasks, plus a separate one-click encrypted backup app, made for my grandparents.

What I did

It was my biggest project at the time: about 6000 lines of Python, using Tkinter, among other modules. I spent a massive amount of time on this project.

What was hard

Designing for people who aren’t confident with computers: every step had to make sense without me there to explain it. Keeping it all consistent as the codebase grew so big was hard too - I admit it was a mess.

It was an early build for family instead of a finished app: restoring a backup was manual, and the guide videos were hosted on Dropbox and aren’t online any more.

What I took from it

One sentence. Also: what your grandparents said.