Ward Cunningham#Cunningham's Law

{{Short description|American computer programmer who developed the first wiki (born 1949)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Ward Cunningham

| image = Ward Cunningham - Commons-1 (cropped).jpg

| alt = Portrait of Ward Cunningham, a middle-aged bearded man, wearing wire rim eyeglasses and an olive drab fleece jacket

| caption = Cunningham in December 2011

| birth_name = Howard G. Cunningham

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|05|26|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Michigan City, Indiana, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| death_cause =

| body_discovered =

| other_names =

| alma_mater = Purdue University

| occupation = Computer programmer

| years_active = 1984–present

| known_for = {{ubil

| WikiWikiWeb, the first implementation of a wiki

| Manifesto for Agile Software Development (document)

}}

| callsign = [http://www.qrz.com/db/K9OX K9OX]

}}

Howard G. Cunningham (born May 26, 1949) is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki{{Cite book |last=Isaacson |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Isaacson |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Innovators/Walter-Isaacson/9781442376229 |title=The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution |date=7 October 2014 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781442376229 |pages=405–466 |chapter=The Web}}{{Cite news |last=Isaacson |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Isaacson |date=19 October 2014 |title=You can look it up: The Wikipedia story |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/19/you-can-look-it-up-the-wikipedia-story.html |work=The Daily Beast |publisher=IAC Inc.}} Excerpt from 2014 book The Innovators. and was a co-author of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Called a pioneer,{{Cite news |last=Bishop |first=Todd |date=January 26, 2004 |title=Microsoft Notebook: Wiki pioneer planted the seed and watched it grow |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/business/158020_msftnotebook26.html |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Section: Business; Page D1}} and innovator, he also helped create both software design patterns and extreme programming. He began coding the WikiWikiWeb in 1994, and installed it on c2.com (the website of his software consulting firm) on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He co-authored (with Bo Leuf) a book about wikis, entitled The Wiki Way, and invented the Framework for Integrated Test.

Cunningham was a keynote speaker at the first three instances of the WikiSym conference series on wiki research and practice, and also at the Wikimedia Developer Summit 2017.{{Cite web |title=Wikimedia Developer Summit 2017 Program |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Developer_Summit/2017/Program |access-date=January 17, 2017}} He was a keynote speaker at the MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference, Spring 2024.{{Cite web |date=April 17, 2024 |title=MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Spring 2024 |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Users_and_Developers_Conference_Spring_2024 |access-date=August 2, 2024}}

Early life and career

Cunningham was born in Michigan City, Indiana, on May 26, 1949.{{Cite book |last=Harry Henderson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Tla6d153uwC&q=ward+cunningham+may+26+1949&pg=PA122 |title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology |publisher=Facts On File |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-6382-6 |page=122}} He grew up in Highland, Indiana, where he completed high school.{{Cite web |title=Ward's Home Page |url=http://c2.com/~ward/ |access-date=September 29, 2018}}

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, graduating in 1978.The Wikipedia Revolution - Andrew Lih, page 46 He is a co-founder of Cunningham & Cunningham, a software consultancy he started with his wife.Lih, Andrew (2009). The Wikipedia Revolution, p. 58. Hyperion, New York. {{ISBN|9781401303716}}.

Cunningham 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.

Cunningham was part of the Smalltalk community.

From December 2003 until October 2005, Cunningham worked for Microsoft 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 2009, he joined AboutUs as its chief technology officer.{{Cite news |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=May 18, 2007 |title=Inventor of the wiki has a new job in Portland |url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/business/2007/05/inventor_of_the_wiki_has_a_new.html |publisher=The Oregonian business blog}} On March 24, 2011 The Oregonian reported that Cunningham had departed AboutUs to join the Venice Beach-based CitizenGlobal, a startup working on crowd-sourced video content, as their chief technology officer and the Co-Creation Czar.{{Cite web |title=Our Proven Leadership Team |url=http://www.citizenglobal.com/info/team |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512225221/http://www.citizenglobal.com/info/team |archive-date=May 12, 2012 |access-date=2012-05-08 |publisher=Citizen Global Website}} He remains "an adviser" with AboutUs.{{Cite news |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=March 24, 2011 |title=Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki, has a new job in SoCal |url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2011/03/ward_cunningham_inventor_of_th.html |publisher=The Oregonian business blog}}{{Cite news |date=March 31, 2011 |title=Ward Cunningham Joins CitizenGlobal |url=http://blog.ratedstar.com/?p=206 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016052532/http://blog.ratedstar.com/?p=206 |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |publisher=Blog.ratedstar.com}} In April 2013, Cunningham left CitizenGlobal to work as a programmer at New Relic.

Ideas and inventions

Cunningham is well known for a few widely disseminated ideas which he originated and developed. The most famous among these are the wiki and many ideas in the field of software design patterns, made popular by the Gang of Four (GoF). He owns the company Cunningham & Cunningham Inc., a consultancy that has specialized in object-oriented programming. He coined the concept of technical debt and expanded on the idea in 1992.{{Cite web |title=Introduction to the Technical Debt Concept |url=https://www.agilealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/IntroductiontotheTechnicalDebtConcept-V-02.pdf |access-date=December 11, 2022}}{{Cite Q | Q123074959}}

He created the site (and software) WikiWikiWeb, the first internet wiki, in 1995.

In 2001, he signed the Manifesto for Agile Software Development as a co-author.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-11 |title=Manifesto for Agile Software Development |url=http://agilemanifesto.org/}}{{Better source needed|reason=This is a primary source; it shows his signature but not the date it was signed nor its broader context.|date=October 2024}}

When asked in a 2006 interview with internetnews.com whether he considered patenting the wiki concept, he explained that he thought the idea "just sounded like something that no one would want to pay money for."{{Citation |last=Kerner |first=Sean Michael |title=Q&A with Ward Cunningham |date=December 8, 2006 |df=mdy-all |url=http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3648131 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916082436/http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3648131 |archive-date=September 16, 2012 |url-status=dead |publisher=internetnews.com}}

File:Ward Cunningham, Inventor of the Wiki.webm

Cunningham is interested in tracking the number and location of wiki page edits as a sociological experiment and may even consider the degradation of a wiki page as part of its process to stability. "There are those who give and those who take. You can tell by reading what they write."{{Cite news |last=CubeSpace, Portland Oregon |date=December 7, 2008 |title=Ward Cunningham, Lecture |url=http://cyborgcamp.blip.tv/#1564923 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207092829/http://cyborgcamp.blip.tv/ |archive-date=February 7, 2009 |publisher=Cyborg Camp Live Stream – Mogulus Live Broadcast}}

In 2011, Cunningham created Smallest Federated Wiki, a tool for wiki federation, which applies aspects of software development such as forking to wiki pages.

Cunningham has contributed to the practice of object-oriented programming, in particular the use of pattern languages and (with Kent Beck) the class-responsibility-collaboration cards. He also contributes to the extreme programming software development methodology. Much of this work was done collaboratively on the first wiki site.

="Cunningham's Law"<span class="anchor" id="Cunningham's Law"></span>=

Cunningham is credited with the idea: "The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."{{Cite news |date=May 31, 2010 |title=Jurisimprudence |url=http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/jurisimprudence/ |access-date=2017-01-04 |work=Schott's Vocab Blog}} This refers to the observation that people are quicker to correct a wrong answer than to answer an unanswered question. According to Steven McGeady, Cunningham advised him of this on a whim in the early 1980s, and McGeady dubbed this Cunningham's Law.{{Cite web |last=McGeady |first=Steven |date=May 28, 2010 |title=Cunningham's Law |url=http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/jurisimprudence/ |access-date=August 30, 2012 |website=Schott's Vocab |publisher=New York Times |at=Comment No. 119 |quote=n.b. named after Ward Cunningham, a colleague of mine at Tektronix. This was his advice to me in the early 1980s with reference to what was later dubbed USENET, but since generalized to the Web and the Internet as a whole. Ward is now famous as the inventor of the Wiki. Ironically, Wikipedia is now perhaps the most widely-known proof of Cunningham's Law.}} Although originally referring to interactions on Usenet, the law has been used to describe how other online communities work, such as Wikipedia.{{Cite web |last=Friedman |first=Nancy |date=May 31, 2010 |title=Word of the Week: Cunningham's Law |url=http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2010/05/word-of-the-week-cunninghams-law.html |access-date=August 30, 2012}} Cunningham relativises his ownership of the law, calling it a "misquote that disproves itself by propagating through the internet" and by saying that he "never suggested asking questions by posting wrong answers".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fclyQt6R5Dc |title=Not Cunningham's Law |date=2015-10-18 |last=Cunningham |first=Ward |access-date=2017-12-20 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/fclyQt6R5Dc |archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

Personal life

File:Ward Cunningham 02 (cropped).jpg

Cunningham lives in Beaverton, Oregon.{{Cite web |date=2013-04-05 |title=Ward Cunningham Joins the New Relic Family |url=http://blog.newrelic.com/2013/04/05/ward-cunningham-post/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315020307/http://blog.newrelic.com/2013/04/05/ward-cunningham-post/ |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |access-date=2014-12-02 |publisher=New Relic Blog}} He holds an amateur radio extra class license issued by the Federal Communications Commission. His call sign is K9OX.{{Cite web |last=Federal |first=Communications Commission |title=K9OX |url=http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=269571 |access-date=4 November 2016 |publisher=United States Government}}{{Cite web |last=Federal |first=Communications Commission |title=Ward Cunningham |url=http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=7405786 |access-date=4 November 2016 |publisher=United States Government}}{{Cite web |last=Federal |first=Communications Commission |title=K9OX, Expired |url=http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=1524544 |access-date=4 November 2016 |publisher=United States Government}}{{Cite web |last=TenTec |first=Wiki |title=Ward Cunningham |url=http://www.tentecwiki.org/doku.php?id=wiki:about |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105032547/http://www.tentecwiki.org/doku.php?id=wiki:about |archive-date=November 5, 2016 |access-date=4 November 2016 |publisher=Ten Tec Wiki}}

Cunningham is Nike's first "Code for a Better World" Fellow.{{Cite news |date=August 6, 2009 |title=Nike Materials Index: Open Data Hackathon |url=http://events.sfgate.com/san-francisco-ca/events/show/200977186-nike-materials-index-open-data-hackathon |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007062130/http://events.sfgate.com/san-francisco-ca/events/show/200977186-nike-materials-index-open-data-hackathon |archive-date=October 7, 2011 |access-date=2011-08-23 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}

Publications

{{Cite book |last=Leuf |first=Bo |title=The Wiki Way |title-link=The Wiki Way |last2=Cunningham |first2=Ward |date=2001 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional |isbn=978-0201714999}}

References

External links

{{Officialwebsite|c2.com/cgi/wiki}}, WikiWikiWeb, includes his WikiHomePage
[http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/240000393?pgno=1 2012 Dr. Dobb's Interview]
[http://www.SQLSummit.com/People/WCunningham.htm EclipseCon 2006 interview with Ward Cunningham (MP3 audio podcast, running time 20:01)]
[http://www.microsoft.com/practices The Microsoft patterns & practices group home page] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20090217195045/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/practices/default.aspx archived])
[http://www.artima.com/intv/simplest.html The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work] (2004 interview)
"[http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/334653/the_webs_wizard_of_working_together/ The Web's wizard of working together] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331061753/http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/334653/the_webs_wizard_of_working_together/ |date=March 31, 2009}}" – profile originally in The Oregonian, December 19, 2005