Boy, 9, writes and releases iPhone app

Most 9-year-olds today would probably be more interested in playing computer games, rather than programming them. Not so for Lim Ding Wen, who has just released his very own iPhone app.

SINGAPORE - Ding Wen's interest in computers began at an early age. By the time he was 2, he already knew the basics of operating a computer, such as starting up the machine as well as running programs. When he was 7, he asked his father to teach him computer programming. After his dad found an easy-to-learn language for him to lear, Ding Wen picked it up very quickly. Within a year, Ding Wen was already able to write games using the programming language. He came up with 'Doodle Kids', a little application that uses colourful shapes to draw pictures on-screen, for his two younger sisters. He has gone on to learn 5 more programming languages. Recently, he ported Doodle Kids to the iPhone, and released it in the Apple App Store for free. Thus far, the app has been downloaded over 4000 times in two weeks. It may not come as a surprise to know that Ding Wen's father is himself very proficient in programming. Lim Thye Chin is the Chief Technology Officer of a Tech firm, and has been posting Ding Wen's progress in programming on a tech blog. The older Lim also writes apps for the iPhone, and according to him both father and son "check the statistics emailed to us (by iTunes) to see who has more downloads." Ding Wen's next iPhone app, "Invader Wars," is being actively developed.