[Phenix88be]

I m calling this fake...

Think about it: a 5 year old? Who could write anything at that age? You can't even hold a pencil properly at 5 year old, so using a keyboard and bash? Please...

I dare you to put a 5 year old in front of a CLI only computer and have them not ignoring it because it does nothing.

[parksy]

I was doing BASIC on an Amstrad CPC at 5. Sure it was just simple GOTO 10 stuff (print hello, border 10, print alex, border 5, goto 10 etc...), but I also knew how to run games (how else would I play harrier attack?).

My mum in particular was very attentive to teaching me reading and writing and I did cursive from a young age, I got in trouble at age 7 because I wasn't doing the curriculum-endorsed print in class (the teacher picked me up by the hair and shook me), but yeah I was definitely doing basic computer stuff by 5 and definitely knew how to pick up a pencil.

I always say I started programming at 10 because it sounds more believable and that's when I was making simple text adventure games but yeah. Welcome to the mid 80s where having a CLI was the only way to compute at home, where parenting was a great deal more laissez flair but also more punitive (the whole debate about "smacking" was still in the future then).

[ebruchez]

Kids have varying abilities and are receptive to different things at different ages depending on personality / ability. Mozart was playing piano concerts at 5 but the vast majority of kids wouldn't be able to do that no matter the environment. Some kids are calm and open to teaching and coaching very early and some are not. People who have experienced precocious abilities for themselves or their own children often assume that this is universal (or just a matter of great parenting) but I don't think it is.

[eurasiantiger]

I was personally writing simple BASIC code by the age of five, it doesn’t take much to flip a switch and type in a few characters to start the editor. Don’t underestimate the learning capability of a child.

[GOATS-]

I was burning CDs on my parents' Windows XP computer when I was 5, so I'm sure this is real.