[Note: This is a guest blog post by Sachi, daughter of KiteReaders' founders]

Hi, my name is Sachi, I’m now a sixth grader, and I made an iOS app over the summer break.  My mom ( she’s a software engineer) taught me, my sister, and my friends how to program over the summer.  

It’s a simple math app with basic functions, animations and audio. The app is called “Math With Mikko” and it is available for download in the Apple App Store here: download link and you can watch the app trailer below:

I learned a bit of Ruby programming language two years ago using a book, and Code Academy. I wasn’t interested at the time.  Now I learnt Lua, with Corona simulator, so I could see how it looked on the device. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. We learned some basic physics, like how to make a crate fall and land on the ground, functions like math.random, and buttons too. Math with Mikko, the app I created, started when I coded a question and a text box on corona simulator. The user would answer the question and the input would appear below. I did this in the programming language Lua. My mom then challenged me to ask a math question where it would tell you if the input was wrong or right. I used a randomize function (math.random) to change the numbers after you finished a question. This was my favorite function because it could pick any random number between the two choices you put. An event listener was called so that the user input would be checked if it was wrong or right. Over time, we thought it would be cool if something was asking the question, and Mikko the owl turned out to be the one. I gave the owl animation, (put in variable).rotation, so that when the question was answered correctly, it would spin. In build.settings put a custom font in the app. I added some audio. these small little projects we’re put together to create the app. Sizing images was a bore though, but a good app should look good. My dad has an eye for design, and he bought the images for Math with Mikko. Bit by bit the app started to become fully fledged.

Miniature bugs were fixed and tests were run. After days passed, the app was shipped to the AppStore. Programming the app was so much fun, because every time I figured something out, or a huge bug was fixed, I would get out of my desk and show everyone the change that I made in the app.

 I learned to program with partially my moms teaching, and partially self learning from Corona docs. It was fun and challenging experience and once I started, I couldn’t stop. Now my app, Math with Mikko is available in the AppStore and possibly the Play store.

I learned that 90% was graphic design and debugging. The other 10% was the actual functions and math.