Why couldn't the title be
> Show HN: I spent 6 months building a C debugger
Why is your age relevant other than "wow factor"?
Mentioning one's age screams insecurity (though to be fair, that is to be expected from teenagers). And as this comment chain illustrates it also partially derails the conversation to discussing his age, instead of his actual achievement.
Let me ask you honestly though, what is the difference between a 17 year old and a 50 year old doing the same thing if both started learning to code around the same time?
The only message you are sending is that you had lower expectations because of their age. If you celebrate their work on its own, then they know they are accomplished no matter who they are stacked against. I don't care if it was a senior SWE at google who did this, I'd be equally as impressed, and that is what I want this person to know. They are not accomplished for their small age, they are accomplished period.
In general I don't think everyone's accomplishments are equal. For example becoming a medical doctor at that age is very impressive agr considered. But for the software industry, the accesibility of information and tooling makes everyone with the same amount of free time, whether a 60 year old in africa or a 12 year old in california on equal footing.
Flattery can often be harmful, especially when lacking objectivity.
OP, you'll do cool stuff. Your age, location,sex, etc... has nothing to do with it. A 60yr old hobo and a 17yr old kid who know nothing about programming are at an equal footing, what each accomplishes is the result of how much time and effort they put into it (not neccesarily the same).
If you were like a 5 year old that'd be noteworthy but reading, writing, knowing how to use a computer and time is all that is needed for coding, unless you are out there creating or implementing sophisticated algorithms that require background mathematical knowledge.
I'd love to be corrected on this but there isn't anything you learn in school beyond like the 6th grade that is needed to succeed as a coder (not SWE, just programming and creating cool stuff).
I hope you let the coolness of your work speak for itself in the future OP.
After a while it trains you to suppress your opinion/not speak up. Those who put us down the hardest will dominate and we'll give up + stay silent.
What will that lead to?
A chamber full of...
It is appearances only many seek not genuine and sincere truth.
So yeah, being able to spend 6 month building such a nice piece of code is awesome and admirable, BUT ALSO being able to pull it off at this age is another accomplishment that should be applauded.
Let's support our young generation, don't do the same mistake than your older generation and don't be mad because you weren't receiving the same amount of support at his age.
No, then they'll never learn that it is received by "adults" as "unnecessarily extra-attention seeking".
Most people who like to share stuff are seeking validation one way or another (myself included).
It might be worthwhile for OP to step back and ask "why am I seeking validation from strangers online to find what I post impressive"?
Maybe it's just cool to connect with people similarly minded and share what everyone is doing, not necessarily for attention seeking, but because it improves everyone's situation by sharing extra knowledge?
Just sharing what I did at a younger age brought me extraordinary connections at the time, some who still are friends 30 years later.
In this case there are two interesting things: that they built a debugger and that they are 17. The latter information might also lead to more interesting helpful comments for the kid versus a "okay, and?" series of responses.
And at the end of the day, every Show HN has a bit of "hey, notice me!" in it - whether or not age or other identifying information is included. I don't think that's bad.