When Hacker News commenters say "I could build that app in a weekend!" I think of this chart of how Slack decides to send a notification - Matt Haughey

Asides; Can one really build an app in a weekend?

Depends on his skill

@darksideplease I think it even more depends on design. If app have clean requirements set, design is ready, funcionality approved, rest to do is only code ;)

@Hackbee yeah, but if you do the app completely on your own, it's just skill again.

@darksideplease it depends on the app though, I believe its impossible to code an app as full featured and complex like Slack by yourself in one weekend

Sure building an app in a weekend is feasible, but it depends on what the app needs to do. The more complex the problem the more unpolished the app will most likely be.
Look at how fast git and JavaScript where created. True they have been changed tremendously since the inception but the messaging chart you posted is probably not how it was first implemented either.

I saw a site where people built one app a week, for a number of weeks. Can't remember the name, but maybe someone else here remembers it?

Anyway, the apps where rudimentary, crude and pretty much useless. No pain, no gain.

I'm sure most people could write a ToDo-app in a weekend though, but that's not much of an accomplishment.

I definitely think, that it is possible.. But, more than skill, it depends upon the complexity of the application..

If it is a standalone app which doesn't require access to the Internet, like an Alarm clock or something, it is definitely feasible..

But, for something more complicated, you will not only need time, but also, skill..

And, sometimes, even the greatest of developers need assistance from other individuals, to complete an app..

But, in my personal experience, you can create an application in a day's or two days' time, but the bigger and more relevant question to ask is:

Can we create a high-quality app in such a short span of time?

Doubtful...

This took me 3 weeks... and you can see, it's still going.

I find the gaps between productive coding crucial. A lot is doable in 48 hours, but you will probably need 3x time in total to account for time in between laying lines of code.

You can do a very small app with a very limited scope in a weekend if there is no need to use third party services or APIs or if they're ready to use and properly documented, and if you use standard components from the target OS. An example of a "doable" app is one where you show stuff you get from an API and your user can navigate through it with a couple level of data types. Something like a category three where you touch and get the list of the items and then touch one and get more info about it.

@Eariel i would hope that would be done in 5-6 hours max much less a weekend

@jckimble, you can do it, but it depends on how much you have already made, and how stable and scalable you want it.

The majority of people on THN don't even know what they're doing 😂

What the hell is that mobile thing doing on the bottom?!