History+of+Wikis


 * HISTORY OF WIKIS **

Howard G. **"Ward" Cunningham** (born May 26, 1949) is an 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.

When Ward Cunningham invented the concept and gave it its name (to both the wiki, which ran on his company's website, and the wiki software that powered it). c2.com thus became the first wiki, or a website with pages that can be edited via the browser, with a version history for each page. Before 1994, however, there were several historical antecedents to wikis, (including "memex" 1945, ZOG in 1972, and HyperCard 1987); though **the creation of true wikis only became possible with the development of the World Wide Web in the early 90s.**

He chose "WikiWikiWeb" as the name based on his memories of the "Wiki Wiki Shuttle" at Honolulu International Airport, and because **"wiki" is the Hawaiian word for "quick".**