Ward Cunningham

American computer programmer · United States · On the map · Developers · Born 1949 · age 77

He wrote the first wiki in 1994 and set it live the next spring - a small tool for tracking software patterns that became the architecture under Wikipedia and a thousand other collaborative sites. He also co-signed the Agile Manifesto and helped shape extreme programming.

Ward Cunningham is read about 144 times a day, in 60 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?

Compare Claim

A life in dates

2008“When I was at Tek, I was frustrated that computer hardware was being improved faster than computer software.”In their words7 March 2008The Portland TribuneRead the whole statement

2007“Now, with wikis, you have a place to write. A wiki is a place to write in the same way that a party is a place to talk. There are thoughts all around you.”In their wordsForeword to Wikis for Dummies (2007)Read the whole statement

2006“Wiki helped define the category of social software.”In their words23 March 2006Interview with Ward Cunningham at the EclipseCon in Santa Clara, California (23 March 2006) published as "Ward Cunningham discussesRead the whole statement

“People who understand their collective goals and values are pretty good at self-organizing -- as long as they are allowed to.”In their words23 March 2006Interview with Ward Cunningham at the EclipseCon in Santa Clara, California (23 March 2006) published as "Ward Cunningham discussesRead the whole statement

“Accept that you've got a common goal that we're all working towards and that we're working towards the same goal. In other words, align and self-organize.”In their words23 March 2006Interview with Ward Cunningham at the EclipseCon in Santa Clara, California (23 March 2006) published as "Ward Cunningham discussesRead the whole statement

2005“the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer”In their words19 December 2005Cunningham's LawRead the whole statement

1949Born26 May 1949

Also in Deutsch

Media & music

Photos 2

Cunningham in 2023

In their own words 4

Ward Cunningham

4 statements, newest first

Before wikis, computer writing was all about the words. The computer could help you type them, spell them, hyphenate them, size them, shape them, and align them.
2007 · Foreword to Wikis for Dummies (2007), Own words
A wiki is like a party that doesn't have to stop. It's a party that doesn't get crowded because new rooms appear when needed.
2007 · Foreword to Wikis for Dummies (2007), Own words
Global collaboration is something that Wiki mastered in a small way and here we can master it in a big way.
23 March 2006 · Speaking about Eclipse Foundation, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

GitHub

@WardCunningham

Followers1.9K

Public repos156

About this person

Ward Cunningham was born May 26, 1949. He began coding the WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on c2.com, his consulting firm's site, on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. The software let anyone edit any page - a radical premise that would define online collaboration. He co-authored The Wiki Way with Bo Leuf, explaining the philosophy in print. In 2001 he co-signed the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, cementing his role in remaking how teams build software. He also invented the Framework for Integrated Test and helped create the idea of software design patterns. He has spoken at WikiSym, the Wikimedia Developer Summit, and other conferences on the tools he set in motion.

Country

United States