From Exchange Rates to Outer Space

A tiny tool born from wanting to see currency rates now carries data all the way to space

In 1996, Swedish programmer Daniel Stenberg wanted to display exchange rates in an IRC chat. For that, he started improving httpget, a small tool written by Rafael Sagula in Brazil, and soon took over its maintenance. In 1998 it was renamed curl. His only motivation was simple: "I want to fetch data from a URL."

Today, curl is embedded in car systems, TVs, game consoles, and even the helicopter that flew on Mars. Wherever there's an internet connection, curl is probably there. And Daniel is still at the center of its maintenance today.

A tool built to solve one small annoyance can end up powering infrastructure around the world. curl is exactly that kind of tool.