Wiki engine evolution tree

Wiki engine evolution tree — the evolution tree in this article below shows roughly how various wiki engine (wiki software) developments are (or were) related and inter-related. For a full list of wiki engines we have indexed here on WikiIndex, see category: Wiki engine.

The evolution tree is a subjective approach to a classification of wiki engines according to their origins; where the original programmer (or founder) of the wiki engine got the idea of deriving (or forking) a new wiki engine from an existing wiki engine. Specifically: this is supposed to be a tree of the evolution of wiki engines (not wiki forums or wiki sites; just wiki engines only). It is supposed to show where a wiki engine was derived from. Of course, this can be very subjective, and be subject to interpretation and opinion. Nevertheless, it is hoped this page will provide food for thought on the history of wiki software.

Page format

Please try to list information using the following schema (items in bold are strongly preferred, though only the engine itself should be displayed in bold), using full wikilinks where possible (red links are acceptable):

wiki engine name — year the development of the wiki engine started; founding author/programmer; programming language (original/primary); its relation to any existing wiki engines; project or community the engine was originally made for [if any]; notable and / or new features;

by using (the leading hash # generates the auto-numbering):

#'''[[:Category:Engine Name|Engine Name]]''' — year; author / founder; prog lang; relation; original use; other comment;

Wiki engine tree

Apple HyperCard stack for Tektronix — 19YY; Ward Cunningham; ???; Ward's Tektronix colleagues; precursor to seeding the wiki concept

1. WikiWikiWeb — 1994; Ward Cunningham; Perl; Portland Pattern Repository / patterns community; first wiki site, aka Ward's Wiki; the actual wiki software would subsequently be released as 'Wiki Base'
   1. ThoughtsWeaver — ca. 1996; Jim Coplien; ???;
   2. CvWiki — 1997; Peter Merel; Perl; GreenCheese (?); WayBackMode
      1. TunesWiki — 199Y; ????????; ???;
      2. AtisWiki — 1998; Marcus Denker; Perl; ATIS / University of Karlsruhe; transclusion of web pages
         1. UniToWiki — 199Y; Enrico Pasini; Perl; University of Turin
         2. UseMod Wiki — 1999; Clifford Adams; Perl; Usenet Moderation Project; sub-pages
            1. ProWiki — 2000; HelmutLeitner; Perl; DseWiki, GründerWiki, TolkienWiki, Wiki4D, DorfWiki, OurCulture; fractality
            2. Oddmuse — 2001; Alex Schröder; Perl; EmacsWiki; sub-wikis [1]
               1. FsiWiki — 200Y; ????????; Perl??;
            3. WikkiTikkiTavi — 2000; Scott C. Moonen; PHP; KeptPages
            4. Wiki::Toolkit — 2002; Kake Pugh; Perl;
               1. OpenGuides — 2002; Kake Pugh; Perl; city wikis
            5. MediaWiki — 2002; Magnus Manske; PHP; Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation; wiki namespaces
               1. GetWiki — ca. 2003; ????????; PHP; Wikinfo / ibiblio; importation of wiki pages
            6. PurpleWiki — 2003; ????????; Perl; purple numbers
   3. JWiki — 1997; Ricardo Clements; Java; first wiki compiled in Java and first to use a database
   4. PhpWiki — 1999; Steve Wainstead; PHP;
   5. CocoaDevWiki — 199Y; ????????; ???;
   6. QuickiWiki — ca. 1999-2001; Ward Cunningham; Perl; The Wiki Way CD; similar to WikiWikiWeb
   7. ClusterWiki — 1999; Bo Leuf; Perl; The Wiki Way CD; runs a cluster of wiki forums on a single wiki engine
   8. Kwiki aka KwikiKwiki — 19YY; Brian Ingerson; Perl; ???; used by OSCON
      1. Socialtext — 199Y; ????????; Perl (?); ???;
   9. PikiPiki — 1999; Martin Pool; Python; first wiki made in Python, flat files, no versioning
      1. PikiePikie — 2000; Steve Pike; Python;
         1. MoinMoin — 2000; Jürgen Hermann; Python; web.de
   10. PyWiki — 1999; Tim Voght; Python; also claims first wiki made in Python ('first project in Python' exercise), RCS revision control system to store its pages
   11. Zwiki — 1999; Simon Michael; Python+Zope;
   12. TipiWiki — 199Y; ????????; PHP;
       1. FatWiki — 199Y; ????????; ???;
       2. PeanutButterWiki, renamed PBwiki — 2005; David Weekly; PHP; PBwiki wiki farm; now known as PBworks, and hosting over one million (1,000,000+) wiki sites
       3. TipiWiki2 — 199Y; ????????; PHP;
   13. Clublet — 2000; Richard Drake; Perl; WhyClublet; sign-in, religious discussion
   14. Dinki — 200Y; ????????; Perl;
       1. QuikWiki — 200Y; ????????; ???;
   15. Very Quick Wiki aka VQWiki — 2001; Martijn van der Kleijn; JSP;
       1. JAMWiki — 2006; Ryan Holliday; Java; Java-based wiki engine using the MediaWiki syntax; powered JAMGuides
   16. Wakka aka WakkaWiki — 2002; Carlos Zottman / Hendrik Mans; PHP;
       1. CitiWiki^[2] — 2003; Lai Ho Kwan; PHP; CS Wiki (CitiWiki)
       2. CoMaWiki — 200Y; Costal Martignier; PHP;
       3. CooCooWakka — 200Y; Ye Gu; PHP; Chinese only
       4. UniWakka — 200Y; ????????; PHP;
       5. WackoWiki — 2002; Aleksey Kulakov; PHP; originally Russian only, now 20 languages
       6. WikkaWiki aka WikkaWakkaWiki — 2004; Jason Tourtelotte; PHP;
       7. WikiNi — 200Y; ????????; PHP; French engine with English, Spanish, and Esperanto support
   17. PmWiki — 2002; Patrick Michaud; PHP; uses plain text files instead of database
   18. Green Light Wiki — 200Y; Ben Kovitz; ???;
   19. JOS Wiki — 199Y; Markus Peter and Dave Harris; Java (?); Java Operating System
       1. KeheiWiki — 200Y; Bob Racko; ???;
       2. TWiki — 1998; Peter Thoeny; Perl; aimed at large corporate intranets, used plain text files instead of database
          1. Spinner Wiki — 2001; ????????; ???; (abandoned)
          2. O'Wiki — 2003; ????????; ???; (abandoned)
          3. Foswiki — 2008; Foswiki Forkers; Perl;
   20. XWiki — 2004; Ludovic Dubost; Java;
   21. PlikiWiki — 2005; John Morden; Perl;
   22. Wikidot.org — 2008; Michał Frąckowiak; PHP; uses Ajax, powers the huge Wikidot.com wiki farm

External links

• Meatball:WikiFamilyTree — similar tree classification attempt
• Wiki:WikiEngines — at Portland Pattern Repository (PPR)
• History of wikis — at the English Wikipedia (En.Wp)
• File:Unix timeline.en.svg — diagram at Wikimedia Commons, showing Unix code inheritance tree; would be interesting to see wiki engines in this format.