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Programming prodigy passes away at 16

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Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#91

Post by tluyben2 »

khalidmbajwa wrote: post #88
tluyben2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure? I mean, yes, this goes for the become an mscp at 9 in Pakistan (which is harder than elsewhere), but she got such a large amount of media attention and I think her father is some kind of big shot in Pakistan as well. It sounds like she was able enough despite the limitations you mention, she just didn't do it?

Look, wealth of family is just one very minute side of it. To actually translate your programming skills into an actual product, or startup or contribute to a real-world project, you need a lot more than that. You need mentors, you need awareness, you need tangible inspirations around you, ones that you can learn from and follow, you need advice, you need peers that you can collaborate with. That her achievements rem…

Fair point, still, she seemed quite creative. But you are right; 'we' have a different point of view. At least that's what it seems like.

Edit: I have some reservations about saying that though; I work with Pakistani designers and programmers, normal people, mostly not even well educated (just a bit) with just enough money to have bought a computer and learn some stuff. And they made products, sites, money just out of nothing like we would do here. So in that regard I have come to know at least some Pakistani as people who, despite their culture, mentors (and general lack there of), peers (and lack there of) and without the press, certification, education and wealthy family who took more or less the same path as 'we' westerners would. There are exceptions to most rules and I would think she would be that.

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#92

Post by sp332 »

pbsd wrote: post #70
sp332 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young (8-9 years old) everyone - peers, teachers, and parents - told me to stop being so outspoken. "Think before you speak" was drilled into me for years, continuously. It was probably the worst advice I have ever received.

"Think before you speak" is always good advice. The "confidence of the mind" referred above does not mean that you should shit out everything that pops in your head.

"Think before you speak" makes it very difficult to hold a normal conversation. Of course I'm not anti-thinking but it's very difficult to express yourself (in most media, but especially talking) if you hesitate constantly.

If you're having trouble speaking well, the solution probably isn't to speak slower, but to learn over time how to speak better at-speed.

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#93

Post by habitatforus »

jacquesm wrote: post #86

This thread and a the story make me equally sad. The thread because this is one of the most hateful and ugly threads I've ever seen on HN. A thread like this would be literally unthinkable a year or more ago, and now I'm not even surprised it is here. The story because it is about the death of a person that could easily be a role model for a large number of young children, but females especially in third world - and…

Found my old password and logged in just to upvote this comment.

Any child driven enough to do all this at a young age would have accomplished much more down the road.

This is one of those negative sum situations where we all loose.

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#94

Post by EponymousCoward »

Totally shocked that a community full of Aspies is having a hard time mustering sympathy for this girl and instead have to pedantically inform the Internet that that's not really programming and what's the big deal anyway I did this when I was 12 in between stimming sessions and telling my parents every species of dinosaur.

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#95

Post by artursapek »

ericb wrote: post #33
andreadallera wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and made it to the Redmond campus based on her own ambition and drive to do something for herself. Sorry but no. Again, I don't want to belittle her accomplishments - it's certainly a feat for any girl or boy her age to be even able to put a very simple application together, but she came from a very wealthy Pakistani family. Saying that she made it to Redmond out of her own ambition and drive is spitting in the fac…

I know privileged and smart 30 year olds for whom getting a real job or moving out of the house would be a major major accomplishment. This girl was 10. Writing off her accomplishments due to privilege is unfair.

I think ungiven credit is also probably due to the parents, though I'm not writing off anything she accomplished.

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#96

Post by skeptical »

andreadallera wrote: post #24
fiaz wrote: post #20

Sure being an "MCP" in the HN circle is absolutely meaningless and doesn't warrant the title "programming prodigy", but that's not the point of this article. The point is that this was a girl who came from a third world country where women are not treated as well as men are in the West, and made it to the Redmond campus based on her own ambition and drive to do something for herself.

> and made it to the Redmond campus based on her own ambition and drive to do something for herself. Sorry but no. Again, I don't want to belittle her accomplishments - it's certainly a feat for any girl or boy her age to be even able to put a very simple application together, but she came from a very wealthy Pakistani family. Saying that she made it to Redmond out of her own ambition and drive is spitting in the fac…

The conclusion I take from all the downvotes to this user's comments is that the HN croud has the emotional stability of a soap opera character. What's with everybody being so sentimental? The little girls passed away, it's a sad outcome for this young person and her family. But why does any attempt to question her 'prodigy' title gets so aggressive downvoting?

May I suggest, that if you disagree, reply with your rational opinion rather than playing the feelings/respect-the-death card along with your downvoting?

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#97

Post by skeptical »

Karunamon wrote: post #62
andreadallera wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have your opinion and I have mine. So let's not try to have a discussion about it? I've never understood that frame of mind.

Probably because he/she recognizes that any such discussion will not lead to any possibly productive output and instead be a pointless match of tilting at windmills. For what it's worth, I'm getting the same vibe from you. Your first contribution to this thread was basically taking a big steaming dump over this young lady's accomplishments. Why would you do that? It didn't add anything to the discussion, and instead…

__Probably because he/she recognizes that any such discussion will not lead to any possibly productive output and instead be a pointless match of tilting at windmills.__

Yet he/she takes the effort to right that down? I love it when people take part in a discussion, then, when a reply is on it's way they say "let's not discuss this more". If it's not worth discussing why bother dropping such useless statements? Ever considering not enter the discussion in the first place? It's not rocket science.

__For what it's worth, I'm getting the same vibe from you. Your first contribution to this thread was basically taking a big steaming dump over this young lady's accomplishments. Why would you do that? It didn't add anything to the discussion, and instead makes you look like a colossal jerk. If this were not HN, I'd think you were just plain trolling.__ I strongly disagree. andreadallera didn't took 'a big steaming dump' over this young lady's achievements. He/she simply question them. I have no idea if this young lady accomplished much or not, but how is questioning the same as denying?

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#98

Post by pjscott »

madrox wrote: post #13

If the headline was "world's youngest MSP" instead of "programming prodigy" would there be less hate in this thread?

I surveyed the comment thread; there are some people being pedantic, and some who are annoyed at various things, but I haven't seen a whole lot of hate.

(This comment would be categorized as pedantic.)

Re: Programming prodigy passes away at 16

#100

Post by bitops »

jacquesm wrote: post #86

This thread and a the story make me equally sad. The thread because this is one of the most hateful and ugly threads I've ever seen on HN. A thread like this would be literally unthinkable a year or more ago, and now I'm not even surprised it is here. The story because it is about the death of a person that could easily be a role model for a large number of young children, but females especially in third world - and…

> The thread because this is one of the most hateful and ugly threads I've ever seen on HN. A thread like this would be literally unthinkable a year or more ago, and now I'm not even surprised it is here.

I agree with you on this point a thousand times. What is going on with this community? In general I like HN, but there's a real trend brewing when it comes to gender-related articles. And it's not pretty.

HN regularly churns out some of the most biased, vitriolic and short-sighted commentary when it comes to women that I've ever seen in any online community.

Question is, what can we do to counteract it?

[EDIT: as expected, I'm being downvoted. Good riddance, HN.]

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