Another feather has been added to the crown of Wasik Farhan Roopkotha, a Bangladeshi computer whiz kid, as the UK-based “War of World Records Foundation” accepted his world record as the “youngest IT expert” on earth.
Congratulating Roopkotha on this achievement, the foundation in a letter on Saturday (April 9) said: “You have successfully created a (new) world record as ‘The Youngest IT Expert’ and it has been accepted by our (jury) team in War of World Records...your record will be considered for inclusion in the www.warofworldrecords.com.”
The record details of Roopkotha’s achievement have been entered into the War of World Records data base as follows:
Wasik Farhan Roopkotha is the “Youngest IT Expert” in the world. He started programming when he was only five years old. He is using C and C# programs with efficiency and developing 13 (3D) games in Roblox Studio with Lua language. He is an expert in C,C#, Java, Visual basic, Php, Python, Bitz, 3D, Lua programming languages.
The parents of Roopkotha, who turned 10 in January last, expressed delight as their son’s world record as the “youngest IT expert” in the globe was accepted by “War of World Records Foundation”.
“We are thrilled and very happy as his world record was accepted by the UK-based organization...countless thanks to God,” said Roopkotha’s proud mother, Cynthia Farheen Risha.
In 2012, Roopkotha was placed in the annual cartoon book of the UK-based globally-acclaimed TV show, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, as the world’s youngest computer programmer.
The Golden Book of World Records and WikiWorld of Books also recognized him as a “wonder boy” with the ability to carry out programming at only 6 years of age.
Many international newspapers, news agencies and websites like the BBC, the New York Herald Tribune, Washington Post, California Observer, European Sun, State News, World Tech News, World News Agency, Deccan Herald, Deutsche Welle, Hindustan Times, Times of India, IBNLive, The Children Post ran stories on him and recognized him as the youngest computer programmer in the world.
Dozens of TV channels at home and abroad have aired documentaries on Roopkotha that included Xinhua, Reuters, NDTV, AXN, Zee TV.
Aside from these recognitions, he also has a chapter dedicated to him in “English for Today” and Home Science textbook of grade 8. The reference book of Comilla University, summer coding of Nigeria, RIIT Daltonganj and Adova soft of India also included his name for academic research.
The story of Roopkotha, Bangla for ‘fairytale’, has overshadowed even (a) fairytale.
The born genius, a resident of Gulshan in the capital Dhaka, unbelievably started computing when he was hardly seven months old, and learned writing on computer at the age of only two, said Risha.
“He began typing on the keyboard before he even spoke his first words,” she said. She said her son’s curiosity about computer had started a couple of days after his birth. He would look at computer monitor with eyes unblinking and refrained from eating until the computer was switched on.
By the age of four, she said, Roopkotha started emulating console gameplay using various emulators such as Project64 1.7, Dolphin, VisualBoyAdvance and DeSmuME. At the same year, he started programming in C and C++. Soon in 2011, Roopkotha used CamStudio and HyperCam 2 and started working on MUGEN.
She said it wasn’t long before his expertise on MUGEN was unveiled as he added new characters to MUGEN. Roopkotha not only excelled in computing but he also showed interest in writing. In 2011-12, he started editing Wikipedia and successfully created an article about a Windows version. He also worked on SCP Foundation and Globulation 2.
At the same time, he used VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC and Parallels Workstation to simulate old PCs running outdated Windows software.
“You might be surprised to learn that Roopkotha did not go through any formal schooling to hone his skills or learn computing, neither was he admitted to any institution or academy. The level of IT expertise that he demonstrates has been a result of self-teaching,” Risha said.
Gradually with time, Roopkotha took on bigger challenges and began to develop games, something he enjoys very much. Since 2014, he has developed 17 games on the ROBLOX platform using ROBLOX Studio and Lua programming language. The games he developed on ROBLOX are named [SCP] Site-32, [SCP] Site-30, [DOGE EMPIRE] Sector-19, [DOGE EMPIRE] Sector-52.
Earlier last year, only at the age of 9, Roopkotha got to experience firsthand the role of an IT expert or developer, as he was officially appointed at a Singapore based software firm in Dhaka called BlueScheme Ltd. His role in the company was that of a professional game developer.
Roopkotha does not restrict himself to only a particular segment of IT but allows himself to explore the various dimensions of technology. Aside from developing games, he is also skilled in programming languages C and C++, Lua, Java, PHP, Blitz3D etc. He has immense knowledge on current events, including subjective theory and has deep interest on archeology, space, solar system and natural calamity.
“It is a matter of pride for me to inform you that computer whiz Roopkotha has already been recognized in both national and international levels for his mindboggling expertise in IT,” Risha said.
After knowing Roopkotha’s talent thru media, Risha said, State Minister for ICT Division Junaid Ahmed Palak last year visited his residence and assured of providing Taka 10 lakh to him from the ICT Innovation Fund as the youngest computer programmer of the world. “Of the amount, the ICT Division has already given Taka 5 lakh to encourage Roopkotha,” she said.
“As a mother, not only am I proud of what he has achieved at such a young age, but he has been able to introduce his country Bangladesh in a global arena as a country that is thriving in IT,” she said.
“Needless to say, he is an asset to our country and potentially the world and it is my duty and hope that we will be able to nurture and encourage his talent so that one day he will be able to present us with innovations in IT that would be recognized worldwide,” Risha said.