CGI Joe
n. A programmer who specializes in the Common Gateway Interface scripts that accept and handle input from most web page forms.
Also Seen As
Examples
1999
Greetings to all perl'ers and CGI-Joes out there …
—Dan Smit, “Reading in records from file,” Computer Programming Forum, November 30, 1999
1997
The adminisphere loves to hire WAWs (Waiter-Actor-Webmasters), provide them with outdated equipment called chip jewelry and work them until they become CGI Joes. (Common Gateway Interface describes particularly complex Internet programming code.)
—James Coates, “Generica, semisweet land of jitterati,” Chicago Tribune, June 08, 1997
1996 (earliest)
CGI Joe
A hardcore CGI-script programmer with all the social skills and charisma of a plastic action figure.
—Gareth Branwyn, “Jargon Watch,” Wired, May 01, 1996