Tech Insider: David Wolfgang-Kimball

Ever wonder what a "cookie" is and how it works? The first clue--it's not a snack! Find the answers in this quiz.

First, the history of cookies: Long before the Internet was the mainstream mode of communication it is today, the predominant computer Operating System (OS) was UNIX. In its day, UNIX pioneered many modern computing principles. Among its legacies is the Magic Cookie.

A Magic Cookie, in UNIX terms, is a way of exchanging small tokens of information to help two programs (usually on separate computers) interact. The modern Browser cookie is a direct descendant of the UNIX Magic Cookie; indeed, on Macs, the cookies are still called Magic Cookies. Want to learn more?