#CodingLabStudents: Christian Kwek, 12, Eunos Primary School
Meet Christian. At only 12 years old, he has already breezed through our roadmap and attended our Python Perfect classes (which we recommend to 13-year-olds and above), where he coded an impressive Pokémon game on his own.
His story has been featured on the Tiny Thinkers blog before, which covered how the special needs child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and gradually found his passion for programming. We talk to the young boy, who is part of Eunos Primary School's Robotics Club and aspires to be a professional coder, as he continues his coding journey with us.
Christian's parents kick-started his interest in programming when they bought him a book titled "Adventures in Minecraft".
Hi Christian! Could you tell us about your program?
Christian: I started it in class after I finished my Python assignment from the teacher. I would continue to work on it as a reward whenever I finished my in-class assignments early! The program is like playing the Pokémon game without the graphics, so it's all text-based in Python.
What gave you the idea for the program?
Christian: Everyone else seemed to be coding something practical, I suppose maybe because they were older. I didn't really know what practical stuff I could code, so I decided to do a simple Pokémon program because I was playing it quite a bit on my Nintendo Switch.
Christian’s code for his text-based Pokémon game.
What were some difficulties you faced when developing this program?
Christian: I ran into a lot, of course. There was one when I asked to view the Pokémon in my party, and all the letters would split up. It took me a while to realise that I was missing a function. Generally, attending classes helped me to solve what I needed to know but the Coding Lab teachers also taught me what I didn't know codes could do. They also gave me hints on what could have gone wrong with my codes, suggested more efficient ones, and even gave me ideas on how to improve my program.
"Start small, start with something you like. Keep going and don't give up!"
Do you have any future plans for your program?
Christian: Currently, I am preparing for the dreaded PSLE. But I'm looking to add more features to my game, and to modify it to a more MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) style that I enjoy playing. It's still not completed yet, so I just want to finish it and run it. Hopefully, after I finish my program, I can get some beta testers who can give me suggestions on how to improve.
Christian, 12, spends most of his free time on the computer or reading on Kindle.
What advice would you give to young coders who are new to coding?
Christian: Start small, start with something you like. Keep going and don't give up!
Christian, 12, is a student at Eunos Primary School taking his PSLE this year. He started off with our Scratch holiday workshop course in 2018 and has since completed our Scratch, MIT App Inventor and Python classes.
He aspires to be a professional coder in the gaming industry and to work at Google someday. It is evident that Christian loves coding, and it is one of his many strengths. We're sure that he will do great, and we look forward to seeing his future programs!
(Written by Cheryl Tang)