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Robert McCool
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<p>Robert Martin McCool (born 1973), more commonly known as Rob McCool, is a software developer and architect. </p><p>McCool was the author of the original <a href="/facts/NCSA_HTTPd/TGkGRAj9">NCSA HTTPd</a> web server, later known as the <a href="/facts/Apache_HTTP_Server/tcmWYYUq">Apache HTTP Server</a>, and until Apache version 2.2, <a href="/facts/Httpd.conf/tcmWYYUq">httpd.conf</a> files as distributed contain comments signed with his name. He wrote the first version while he was an undergraduate at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana%25E2%2580%2593Champaign/gusw7HoS">University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign</a>, where he was working with the original <a href="/facts/NCSA_Mosaic/qrA52r1E">NCSA Mosaic</a> team. His twin brother, Mike, also attended the university and would join the Mosaic team to work on a port of the Mosaic software to the <a href="/facts/Macintosh_computer/8GhnXTK0">Macintosh computer</a>. The brothers received their <a href="/facts/Bachelor%2527s_degree/s739u69z">bachelor's degrees</a> from the university in 1995. They went to <a href="/facts/High_school/GjEqd0fa">high school</a> at the <a href="/facts/Illinois_Mathematics_and_Science_Academy/JrTRG9Sh">Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy</a> (class of 1991) and Robert was awarded its Alumni Trailblazer Award at its inaugural award event during its 20th anniversary celebration on April 20, 2007. </p><p>One of Robert McCool's many contributions was in drafting the initial specification of the <a href="/facts/Common_Gateway_Interface/zWsLFXGJ">Common Gateway Interface</a> (CGI), in collaboration with others on the www-talk mailing list, and providing a reference implementation of CGI in version 1.0 of the <a href="/facts/NCSA_HTTPd/TGkGRAj9">NCSA HTTPd</a> web server. The CGI specification, introduced in December 1993, turned out to be a key element in making the <a href="/facts/World_Wide_Web/wvnTrWFq">World Wide Web</a> dynamic and interactive. </p><p>McCool was an early <a href="/facts/Netscape/JGWlEUI7">Netscape</a> employee, contributing to <a href="/facts/Netscape_Enterprise_Server/e6mcpk1g">Netscape Enterprise Server</a> (e.g., <a href="/facts/Netscape_Server_Application_Programming_Interface/bKrpodtv">NSAPI</a>) and other server-side systems. </p><p>Later, at <a href="/facts/Stanford_University/JEQeF9z2">Stanford University</a>, he co-authored the TAP and KDD systems for automatic augmentation of human-generated web content. He is also the author of various journal and conference articles pertaining to semantic search, semantic web, and knowledge provenance. </p><p>McCool lives in <a href="/facts/Menlo_Park%2c_California/mHQVj2Jx">Menlo Park, California</a>. </p>