This is a general, non-technical introduction to the WikiMedia software.
=== What is MediaWiki? ===
'''MediaWiki''' is the software program released under the GNU GPL that runs '''Wikipedia'''[http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia] and other Wikimedia projects [http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia]. It is developed by contributors to these projects.
MediaWiki is a [[w:en:WikiWiki|WikiWiki]], meaning that anyone can easily edit any article and have those changes posted immediately. The software contains a lot of [[Help:Contents|Documentation]], also. If you want to learn more about editing and other aspects of the user's point of view, you might want to read
* [[Help:Reader]] or
* [[Help:Editor]].
The name "MediaWiki" was coined by Wikipedia contributor Daniel Mayer as a play on Wikimedia [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-July/010966.html]. Before that, the software was known as "Wikipedia software Phase III".
The MediaWiki Project has its own [http://svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki/trunk/phase3/ subversion repository]; if you're interested in the code, you might want to read
* [[Help:Hacker]].
== Architecture ==
