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Programming Prodigy Arfa Karim Passes Away At 16
quantr writes "Arfa Karim, child prodigy, youngest certified Microsoft Professional in the world and winner of the president’s Pride of Performance, breathed her last breath on Saturday night at the Combined Military Hospital in Lahore. Arfa had an epileptic attack on December 22 and had been in a coma since."
...it must be asshole day at /.
Seriously, folks - what the hell is wrong with you?
A young woman of tremendous promise and an incredibly positive outlook on life dies far before her time, and this is what you have to say?
Some really sick folks. First time in a long time that I've actually been embarrassed of the folks here at /., despite some seriously differing opinions.
Check your premises.
Wow, what a bunch of badasses we have here. Way to slam a dead teenager for not being as cool as you are. Real men, you are.
I had no idea epilepsy could be fatal.
I know the years of blood vessel stress can lead a migraine sufferer like myself to suffer an aneurism -- a blood vessel in the brain "blowing out" and bleeding, causing stroke symptoms or even death. But the concept doesn't scare me, it's just a factual risk I live with.
My heartfelt condolences to her family. She was so young and so gifted, with such a future ahead of her. :(
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Have gnu, will travel.
the comments on this topic are disgusting, shows something about an average person (and they are voters).
You can't handle the truth.
... are seemingly all arseholes. Sometimes you fuckers make me want to puke. Have a little respect; she's dead.
--D
I think it's about time /. gets rid of the AC policy. If you can't be bothered to make an account, why should you be able to constantly stink this place up with the sort of bile we see in the first few comments to this?
She was a programmer. A gifted, young programmer.
Slashdot reported on the death of Denis Ritchie, why not her? Or do you feel that they don't matter?
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
A moment of silence for a bright little star winking out, no more to lend its brilliance to our future.
Well at the basic level Certified just means you can pass the test.
Do you know how old she was when she passed it? She was 9.
You may not be impressed by that fact, but I am.
she was featured on slashdot years ago when she got the certification:
http://slashdot.org/story/05/07/15/0651245/microsofts-10-year-old-certified-professional
it's a sad fact so many assholes have basically the same comments that were said back then... I wonder if they just copy and paste?
Seriously? Getting certified at age 9 does not qualify enough to be appreciated? You cannot even spell "were" and "a lot" at this age and you're pointing fingers at a dead legend?
I know that, in the face of the appallingly low level of most of the comments here, it is easy to take the moral high ground. I know. But still - this is tremendously sad. We ( with "we" I mean both "humanity" and "we, the engineering community" ) lost something valuable here: a promising life.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
It's sad that she passed so early. She appeared truly gifted and it's a shame that she died too soon to learn how awful Microsoft products are. She could have become quite the *nix wiz.
Microsoft certification: even a 9 year old can do it.
Perhaps, but I don't make a habit of pissing in open graves before the dirt's even shoveled in.
And I find it reprehensible when others do it out of some sort of misbegotten patriotism, envy or need to prop them selves up by being vile to others.
Especially in the case when such potential for brilliance is snuffed out so early.
Check your premises.
Arfa, thank you for being an inspiration during your too-short life. You'll never know the positive example you've been to tens of thousands!
To think that a [presumed] Muslim female, a child at that, could accomplish what she did is amazing on so many levels. I am with others on the presumption that her ability was possibly also part of her undoing. The brain is a tricky thing. Hers was likely wired in such a way that it contributed to its burning itself out.
That said, those woman-oppressing Islamic fundamentalists out there can look upon her with all the anger they like. They can't deny what she was. She was female. She was extremely young. She was extremely accomplished and had extremely high potential. I doubt this is the type of symbol she would have wanted to be, but she is definitely a symbol of defiance against ridiculous religious ideals which seek to limit and oppress women into specific roles in life.
Yes, epilepsy can be fatal. It can shut down the central nervous system, starve the brain and other vital organs of oxygen, causing death. That just happened here to a very promising young student here in North Carolina. I convey my condolences to the family. There is no crueler cut of life than having to bury a child.
Indeed. The MCE tests are pretty easy for an adult. Passing one as a teenager displays a somewhat above-average level of competence. Passing one when your age is still in single digits is very impressive.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Well at the basic level Certified just means you can pass the test.
Do you know how old she was when she passed it? She was 9.
You may not be impressed by that fact, but I am.
The tragedy is that she was a young girl in the prime of life and seeing her life taken too soon, not because she was labeled a Microsoft Certified recipient and thus labeled a child prodigy for doing so.
Get a grip, folks.
I'm not a programmer, but I am pretty good at my chosen profession. I know without a doubt that I couldn't have passed any sort of "certification" exam at that age, whether it was related to my profession or not.
I'm pretty sure I've got a grip.
Just sayin'.
Okay, so you're honestly trying to say that any 9 year old could pass that test, if their parents simply "forced" them to learn it by flash cards? Get a grip, indeed.
she didn't die because she was burning twice as bright. she died from complications after they made an incision to insert a breathing tube into her trachea. that means she didn't have to die, and it was an incredible tragedy that she did. i am both sad and angry at this terrible news.
She was waiting for Gentoo to finish compiling.
It's pretty special that you consider the phrase "not as gifted as Mozart" to be synonymous with "not impressive". I hope your kids grow up to be Oscar-winning astronaut quarterbacks, or else you're in for quite a disappointment.
Lack of empathy is a clear social dysfunction and the only excuse is adolescence.
I would not ridicule a 16yo for not understanding how others might feel or how things are for someone else. If you are still busy finding your own identity it is difficult to feel for others. But if you're 20+ and still posting things like the above comments, you are on the way of becoming a pathetic loser.
Are you so attached to the idea of performance and computer skills that you'd even consider it a relevant subject of discussion when such a young person has passed away? You're all like Scrooge, but with computers chained to your souls instead of cash.
Emotions! In your brain!
Yeah I'd hate to be the child of the guy up there saying that any 9 year old could pass this test, if the parent just forced them to learn it on flash cards. Potty training is going to be rough in that house.
It also depends on the test. MCP by itself is kind of a meaningless certification as it simply means that you have passed one of the many tests, and not all of them even have to do with programming - e.g. there are some Office certifications that'll give you that.
She, on the other hand, qualified by taking a C# WinForms exam. Also according to the same, she passed an exam for ASP.NET two years later - judging by this, she was on her track to become an MCAD (MS certified app developer), with only one exam remaining. I went through that myself, albeit at an older age (started in 14, got my MCAD by 16) - it's not exactly hard, but it does require that you know how to code, and know C# reasonably well. Doing it at 9 is certainly quite impressive - heck, back at tat age I was still trying to figure out how to write Tetris in Turbo BASIC, without much success at that.
And not to forget that she was born and raised in Pakistan, which is not exactly a first world country - so it's not like she had many opportunities and lots of free time to waste.
I studied up on her, and, one of the things I noticed is that when asked if she's a net applications developer, she resopnds that she programs in C#. And when I studied the requirements for MCP, I couldn't find an instance of the word "Java". So... at least we can say that the poor young soul never had to know the pain of Java.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
On one side we have the who cares, this is not the place to post this. The on the other side we have Its such a tragedy we lost such a great young mind! Then we have the people who probably agree with the first but are to afraid to comment for the karma loss inflicted by the second side.
Lets be honest, it is a tragedy any time someone dies, even more so when that person had potential to change alot of peoples lives through their work, but let us remember we lose people everyday with more potential and intellect than this girl. She had the right combination to get to the point were she could excel, good parents that encouraged her that had money to make possible what she wanted to do. So I think on that point is a greater tragedy when we lose someone who tries to excel even though they have none of those things to help the process. Where is the press then? Where is microsoft to help them find the best medical care? Where is the overzealous out cry of mourners for those people?
I think its time the second group of people step back and re-look at all the shit they are giving the first group of people, unless you can name every bright mind the world has lost in the last year and how that young kid who was working themselfs through college because his mother was a crack head and his farther was in jail has effected you.
You obviously don't get the reference, or the respect that the reference implies.
and i also wouldn't have shown my respect by wishing her a speedy recovery from chemotherapy.
You're an asshole.
that is correct, coward.
i will correct the common misconception that she died from a seizure no matter how tragic it is. i want candles to burn twice as bright AND twice as long, and i'm not afraid to say it.
Being familiar with this girls story, I came here to say some kind words. I see that they have already been said.
For those of you with unkind words all I can say is I have been on Slashdot since 1997 and I have never been so embarrassed and ashamed to call myself a part of this community.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
I don't know any Asian parents, and I'm Asian, you insensitive clod!
By the time they get home from work either I'm asleep or studying with my private tutor. I'm lucky if I get an email every other day.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Here are the reasons why this is a news-worthy item here on Slashdot and why she should be credited for what she did:
1. The girl was from Pakistan and therefore unlikely to have been afforded similar social & educational privileges than a 16-year old girl in the USA or Europe.
2. Pakistan is a mainly Muslim country meaning that women have a lower status than men from the moment of birth. Therefore what she did was that little bit more harder for her than for a boy in Pakistan.
3. It's good to occasionally get a new story from Pakistan where everyone isn't portrayed as either a Taliban terrorist in the mountains or a member of the Pakistan government hiding them.
4. Maybe if a few more kids in our rich Western countries (I'm in the UK) took an interest in intellectual pursuits like programming, we wouldn't have so many of them dropping unwanted kids or getting addicted to drugs or alcohol. Maybe just one or two of those kids will read this story and take some inspiration from it, possibly change their own lives.
So now kindly shut the fuck up if you cannot show some compassion.
Windows 10 is great - I used it to download Linux.
I was programming at age 9. I was learning the difference between 'serial' and 'random access' mode for files on Apple II Basic. I was setting about trying to write a program to automate my elementary school's checkout system for their little library. I didn't finish it, but that's what I was doing.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
...is when you troll gleefully about the death of a teenage Pakistani girl who was a genius with Microsoft stuff but attacked anyone who trolled gleefully when Steve Jobs passed away.
Windows 10 is great - I used it to download Linux.
I know some people who have personally met Arfa when she came to visit Redmond back in 2006. If she faked the exam, that would have come out pretty quickly in any prolonged conversation on programming topics.
tell me about it, i was potty trained via flashcards and now i can't write an exam without pooping EVERYWHERE.
I am with those who maintain that a Microsoft certification is not Computer Science, and that the wikipedia article is erroneous, misleading and should be corrected. Perhaps by changing the heading from "Computer Science" to "Systems Administration". An impressive achievement for a nine year old to be sure, but not to be ranked with science. Attempting to mischaracterize her achievement that way only sullies it.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
I had an uncle who was studing CS, so by age 2 I was writing my first Hello World program in BASIC.
Sorry, I don't believe you.
At two years old, you didn't have the motor skill to control a keyboard or a mouse, much less read or write.
Knowing a few people who have gotten that certification (after several tries) - I am fairly comfortable in saying that the test for that, and many similar MS certifications, are on par with some of the harder actuarial examinations. Even a particularly intelligent person will be challanged.
That being said, it is a lot of memorization, not necessarily analysis. But when you have quick recall to that many situations, if your logical abilities are fairly good, then you will be able to troubleshoot A LOT.
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
And if i go, ...I will be there.
while you're still here...
Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
-behind a thin veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can soar together again,
-both aware of each other.
Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
Just whisper my name in your heart,
By Colleen C. Hitchcock
Sigs suck!
You're absolutely correct, it was an amazing accomplishment.
The reason there's backlash is that certification in computing fields tends to be rather worthless. They're indications of a base level of skill that's much lower than the level needed to actually get programming work done, so they have a bad reputation in the field. In addition, there's often a requirement for a certification that keeps qualified applicants from getting jobs, which is a source of frustration for everyone outside of HR.
So, while you're correct that it's an accomplishment on her part, the GP is also correct in that what she learned wasn't necessarily skills that are useful in the real world. Without more supporting evidence, calling her a programming prodigy is certainly a stretch.
The death is tragic, but there are no "programming geniuses", it does not work that way. You simply cannot even have the amount of experience to be very, very good at that age. The potential can be there, but not the actual skill. My deduction is that she had very good memory and was drilled to get through that test. Afterwards, my guess would be that she was used basically as a PR asset. Makes sense when you think about it. And in basically all cases like this, when you dig a bit, you find over-ambitious parents.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I'm just saying a bunch of people die every single day. You cared about this woman? You knew her? I'm sorry for your loss if so, but in reality you life has not changed and by tomorrow you will have forgotten this person existed and that this exchange even took place.
Tell that to my 2 year old. He works a mouse just fine, can read a decent amount of words, and can use the remote on the appletv to play Cars or Thomas the Train. Still poops himself though.
mod me funny
Why not?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nj2NjysOMI
What's funny is that at that age, when it was far more rare (and there wasn't even a microsoft, gasp) I was programming a PDP-8 and designing and building my own peripherals for it. Truth. Yeah, I did ok in life, even had something to do with VoIP later on - you're probably using my code. But you don't even know my name. Why is it death makes you famous when it can't matter to you anymore. All that skill made me moderately well off (no debt) but... nothing like this, and yes, I'm really that good and have been since the '60s or so. I've certainly seen plenty with one of these certs who I'd prefer the *average* 9 year old to. That's not that special people. Oh, bring on the flames. Some of you who think you're hot shit probably only have that to their names, and no, I'm not gonna hire you unless you can actually do good things. Screw the paper. And get off my lawn.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
At this point in time I wish all the ACs would die from a treatable disorder.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I am one of these people that would rather have the moderation system remain as it is. I honestly don't think I have a "pathological" fear as such of Reddit or any other social site out there. Honestly, I am having trouble comming up with a scenario where anyone can be afraid of some page on the Internet. You can perhaps call us "conservative" for resisting such a major site overhall, but I will argue that there is nothing wrong with having such a point of view.
I for one am against changing moderation system because this is one of the fundamentals of how Slashdot functions. This is our identity and represents us as a community. Those people that like Reddit's system have already left and now read Reddit. Those that like Digg's way of filtering have left and now part of Digg's community. All the people that remained here are those that are satisfied with the current scheme.
Yes, there are many flaws with Slashdot's moderation, but there is no such thing as perfection in the real world. All of them, including your favourite Reddit, have their own problems. Question you need to ask is not "Why don't Slashdot becomes like <website>?" but "Do I prefer <website>'s way better than Slashdot's?". If so, just go there instead of making your selfish calls to make changes that will affect great number of people that have a different opinion!
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/In-smarts-she-s-a-perfect-10-1178306.php#page-2
Here are the requirements for the exam she passed according to this guy. Suffice it to say you need to know a little more then that. If you aren't impressed by that I would hate to be your kid. Clearly setting records just isn't good enough for you.
-1 overrated isn't the same thing as "I disagree".
Yes, I do. You're welcome to come out of the basement and see for yourself.
Never heard of her until she died. Sad. Perhaps her case will help promote health care generally in India. Would be nice if losing a clearly large potential helps put the focus on curing disease (especially the more exotic ones that the west doesn't focus much on).
That said though I've heard that prodigies often fail to reach their potential. Ie do amazingly well and get into Harvard Law at 15 and than ... nothing. Their career is just like the rest of the Joe Smoes that got their degree when they were 25. I guess as two examples of ones that succeeded: Beethoven and Bobby Fischer. Any others? I guess what I'm saying is they have the intelligence of an adult extremely early but often they don't continue to develop. That is the nature of human development in general from what I understand. 0-4 or so really rapid development. Than more from 14-30 or so. In between and afterwards nothing that special. You learn but your reasoning doesn't improve at a great rate (might even decrease later on even not counting senility. So sad, but one good thing is she'll be remembered for what she was excellent at not as a 70 year old that had a hoo hum career and "oh yeah was the first MS MCP, you know that company from back in the 2010's?".
She is called a programming prodigy but no evidence is given, the only "evidence" is a MS certification on a site where MS certification is a gigantic red flag. Certification in general tends not to be popular and the ones from MS are often considered to have less value then the paper they were written upon if the paper was made of shit.
The article writer probably knows this and also knows that controversy sells ad impressions.
The simple fact is that a young person died who had some minor accomplishments that most on /, simply do not value since they know adults with the same who are the waste of IT. Maybe if the article poster had given some examples of actual code she had written? Something that would actually impress other developers? But the only links I seen so far are to software that is frankly not that impressive to people from a generation that had to create their own computer from scratch. Don't forget, there are REAL rocket scientists on Slashdot. People that built their own home computer before there were home computers are supposed to be all impressed with a kid that made a calculator in a modern development environment? Not even a very good calculator.
It might be hard for a 9 year old to do that particular exam but so what? Coders judge other coders on code, not certificates.
All this is to me is a young person who died who seems to have gotten some minor press attention for an achievement I do not value. Show me her 3D engine, new sorting algorithm, something that makes her a true child prodigy and not just a very boring kid who read a training manual cover to cover.
Sad she died, but millions die each day. What makes her worthy of special attention? I just don't like fake emotion from people who shed tears over this but never made a donation to stop people from dying or to cure a disease. Slashdot doesn't need human interest stories.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Actually Google did, but I am not dissing them.
Failing to meet Google standards instead of failing to meet Microsoft standards isn't really something to be proud of.
I think, they just were acting like a bunch of dicks, considering that my current job involves everything an order of magnitude more complex than Google does.
At least they were not giving me idiotic puzzles to test if my mind works exactly the same way as theirs.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Yeah, I did ok in life, even had something to do with VoIP later on - you're probably using my code. But you don't even know my name.
Umm, I think we do, Doug
I'm just saying a bunch of people die every single day. You cared about this woman? You knew her? I'm sorry for your loss if so, but in reality you life has not changed and by tomorrow you will have forgotten this person existed and that this exchange even took place.
The point is that when we hear of someone young and promising dying, we have this feeling called "empathy". I realise that your Asperger's makes it a difficult thing to comprehend. We think of children we know, we think of others we have lost at a young age, we think of what her parents must be feeling. It's part of being human.
I'm sorry if it's not logical, Spock.
Who is there to be angry at? Doctors who were trying to save her life? You know, not all tragedies have people you can blame.
not who; what. i get pissed when bad things happen to nice people. i may even turn my anger to constructive use, but this should not be construed as finger-pointing.
I really dont get why people need a reason to be sad about her death (she had an MCP!) and someone to be mad at (those incompetent doctors). Is this what we have come to? Someone's death is only of note if they were of a particular skill set, and if we can blame someone for it?
are you asking why i had an emotional reaction to this news, or do you really not know that in many cultures solemnity is the appropriate reaction to news of someone's death?
How does one verify such a claim? I don't even know what evidence to look for.