FOCus
A Spark of
Genius
By Farhan Shah
:PART
one
Four years ago, a then 9-year-old
Singaporean boy with a cheeky grin and an
unruly mop of hair made headlines all over
the world for being the world’s youngest
iPhone app developer.
All Lim Ding Wen wanted to do was to
write a drawing programme for his sisters
who loved to draw. Now, to date, his free
drawing app called Doodle Kids has been
amazingly downloaded more than 700,000
times and has even been featured in an
Apple promotion video.
Being singled out as a child
I feel this is the most important
prodigy by the adoring media
issue that most parents fail to
can be a catalyst to greater
grasp. Right now, most parents
things. However, while the
spotlight shines on the kid,
want their children to learn
many people forget the two While Ding Wen was basking in the media
how to use the computer.
supporting characters who limelight, his father, Lim Thye Chean,
stood proudly on the sidelines. To him, the
have played a major role in interviews were the perfect opportunity
the kid’s development – the for his son to learn how to communicate
up his programmes and set to work to code their children to learn how to use the
Doodle Kids for the iPhone.
computer. However, most children
parents. In Part One of this with others.
think of the computer as a means to an
two-part series, Family &
Amazingly, Ding Wen took just one day
It’s Not About The Money
end. For example, Ding Wen’s end was
Life talks to the parents of Thye Chean, who is an esteemed
to finish the app and, as they say, the rest
the game he programmed. By focusing
the world’s youngest iPhone developer in his own right, has never seen is history.
on what the child wants to get out of
the process, he or she will enjoy the
developer and discover Ding Wen’s amazing talent as a chance to
The Key Ingredient to Genius
make money. In fact, he has rejected any
journey.”
that the secret ingredient and all suggestions for commercialisation Thye Chean reveals that they never did
to genius might not be as and advertisements that came after his
anything out of the ordinary to nurture Ding And enjoy the journey they did.
complicated as you think. son’s success. “We believe that as a young Wen’s innate talent for coding. There were no To encourage him during the app
kid, Ding Wen should focus on his
studies and not about making money,”
says Thye Chean.
It is This grounded attitude towards life
that kept the Lim family on an even keel
despite the barrage of media attention
they received in 2009. And even though
the spotlight has gradually dimmed
over the years, the family has remained
unaffected, regularly going to the cinemas
or to the beaches to play and bond
together as a family.
Thanks to Thye Chean and his wife’s
guiding hand, Ding Wen has grown up to
be an intelligent teenage boy who, just like
his peers, prefers spending time with his
friends over his family and enjoys playing
the occasional computer game on the
machine that first shot him to stardom.
A Prodigy At Work
While Ding
Wen was
basking in the
media limelight,
his father,
Lim Thye Chean,
stood proudly
on the
sidelines.
10
Family & Life • Sept 2013
Watching Ding Wen blasting virtual
enemies with his mouse and keyboard,
one could never have guessed that this
lanky teenager is the same child prodigy
who managed to master the PASCAL
programming language, a course normally
taught in university classes, by the time he
was 8-years-old.
Using this incredible knowledge, Ding Wen
developed Doodle Kids in just two nights
as well as a complex game titled Invader
Wars, which he worked on and off for
about a year during his free time, for an old
Apple computer called the Apple IIGS.
Then, when Thye Chean started dabbling
in app development for the iPhone as
part of his job, Ding Wen also requested
to learn the language. Of course, the first
project that Ding Wen decided to do was
to rewrite Doodle Kids for the iPhone. He
sat down in front of his computer, booted
brewed herbal concoctions or intense lessons
by the computer to hammer home the
programming language. Instead, the Chief
Technology Officer in his own company
only had one secret ingredient: fun.
development process, Thye Chean also
created a similar app and uploaded it to
the app store. Then, father and son would
compare their download numbers at the
end of each day to see who was winning.
“Actually, I never taught Ding Wen a
programming language. Instead, I taught
him how to write a game. Learning a
programming language is part of writing
a game, so Ding Wen never thought that
he was learning how to program. Rather,
he was enjoying the progress of writing his
own game and letting it come to life,” says
Thye Chean.
Of course, Ding Wen was ahead by miles
but that did not bother Thye Chean, who
only wanted to see his son smile.
That has always been Thye Chean’s
wish in life, even up till now. Although
Ding Wen does not program as much
as he used to in the past, Thye Chean
is unruffled. To him, it has never been
about the money or the fame. It has
always been about making his son, and
by extension his entire family, happy.
He continues, “I feel this is the most
important issue that most parents fail
to grasp. Right now, most parents want
And he is doing a terrific job at it.