Ward Cunningham
Creator of the first wiki and agile software development co-author.
Ward Cunningham is an American computer programmer best known for building the first wiki and for co-authoring the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. He also originated the idea of technical debt and made contributions to software design patterns and extreme programming.
Born in Michigan City, Indiana, in 1949, Cunningham grew up in Highland, Indiana, and earned both a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary engineering and a master's degree in computer science from Purdue University. He co-founded the software consultancy Cunningham & Cunningham with his wife. Over his career, he served as Director of R&D at Wyatt Software, Principal Engineer at Tektronix Computer Research Laboratory, and worked in Microsoft's Patterns & Practices group. He later held roles at the Eclipse Foundation, AboutUs, CitizenGlobal, and New Relic. He also founded The Hillside Group and chaired its Pattern Languages of Programming conference.
Cunningham began coding the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, in 1994 and launched it on his company's website in March 1995 as an addition to the Portland Pattern Repository. He co-authored *The Wiki Way* with Bo Leuf and invented the Framework for Integrated Test. He was a keynote speaker at the first three WikiSym conferences, the Wikimedia Developer Summit in 2017, and the MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference in 2024.
He is credited with the idea known as Cunningham's Law: that posting a wrong answer online is a better way to get the right answer than asking a question. Cunningham has downplayed this, calling it a misquote that disproves itself. He also created the Smallest Federated Wiki in 2011, a tool for wiki federation that applies software development concepts like forking to wiki pages. His work includes contributions to object-oriented programming, pattern languages, and class-responsibility-collaboration cards with Kent Beck, much of it done collaboratively on the first wiki.
Cunningham lives in Beaverton, Oregon, holds an amateur radio Extra class license with the call sign K9OX, and is Nike's first "Code for a Better World" Fellow.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Howard G. Cunningham
- Birth Date
- 1949-05-26
- Birth Place
- Michigan City, Indiana, U.S.
- Education
- Purdue University
- Occupation
- Computer programmer
- Years Active
- 1984–present
- Known For
- WikiWikiWeb, the first implementation of a wiki · Manifesto for Agile Software Development (document)
- Callsign
- [http: · www.qrz.com/db/K9OX K9OX]
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Cunningham began coding the WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on c2.com on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He co-authored a book about wikis titled The Wiki Way with Bo Leuf. He is credited with the idea known as Cunningham's Law: 'The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer.' Cunningham has relativised his ownership of the law, calling it a 'misquote that disproves itself by propagating through the internet' and stating that he 'never suggested asking questions by posting wrong answers.' He created the Smallest Federated Wiki in 2011, a tool for wiki federation that applies software development concepts such as forking to wiki pages.
Reader's Guide
Cunningham's development of the first wiki fundamentally changed how collaborative content is created and shared online. His co-authorship of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development helped shape modern software development practices. He coined the concept of technical debt in 1992, a term widely used in software engineering. His work on software design patterns, class-responsibility-collaboration cards, and extreme programming has influenced object-oriented programming and development methodologies. He was a keynote speaker at the first three WikiSym conferences and at the Wikimedia Developer Summit 2017, as well as the MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference in Spring 2024. He holds an amateur radio Extra class license with call sign K9OX and lives in Beaverton, Oregon.
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