Ward Cunningham
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Computing People
| Ward Cunningham | |
 Ward Cunningham at Wikimania 2006
|
|
| Born | May 26, 1949 United States |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Computer programmer |
| Known for | WikiWikiWeb, the first implementation of a wiki |
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham (born May 26, 1949) is the American computer programmer who developed the first wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham (commonly known by its domain name, c2.com), on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He currently lives in Beaverton, Oregon and is the chief technology officer for AboutUs.
He has co-authored a book about wikis, titled The Wiki Way, and also invented Framework for Integrated Tests.
Personal history
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham received his Bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary engineering (electrical engineering and computer science) and his master's degree in computer science from Purdue University. He is a founder of Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc. He has also served as Director of R&D at Wyatt Software and as Principal Engineer in the Tektronix Computer Research Laboratory. He is founder of the Hillside Group and has served as program chair of the Pattern Languages of Programming conference which it sponsors. Ward was part of the Smalltalk community. From December 2003 until October 2005 he worked for Microsoft Corporation in the "patterns & practices" group. From October 2005 to May 2007, he held the position of Director of Committer Community Development at the Eclipse Foundation. In May 2007, he joined AboutUs, as its chief technology officer.
Ideas and inventions
Cunningham is well-known for a few widely disseminated ideas which he originated and developed. Among these, the most famous are the wiki (named after WikiWikiWeb), and many patterns in the field of software patterns, including the collection of patterns and practices that later became known as "Extreme Programming" or "XP."
In a 2006 interview with internetnews.com Cunningham admitted that he had thought about patenting the Wiki concept when he first created it.
Patterns and Extreme Programming
Cunningham is also well known for his contributions to the developing practice of object-oriented programming: in particular, the use of pattern languages, and CRC (Class-Responsibility Collaboration) cards (with Kent Beck). He is also a significant contributor to Extreme Programming, a software development methodology. A great deal of this work was carried out in the first wiki site itself. Its the simplest online database that could possibly work.