Edgar Frank Codd - IBM's Legend
If one imagines the development of society in the form of a three-dimensional model, then one can notice interesting moments inherent in social progress. One of these moments will be not only the translational movement along a certain vertical plane (forward), but also along the horizontal (extending the existing horizon). And often this “horizontal movement” becomes a definite springboard for the “vertical”.
Want specific examples? You are welcome! The clearest confirmation of this theory is the ingenious and, in fact, revolutionary work of the outstanding mathematician and programmer Edgar Codd in the field of data storage - the development of the idea of ​​a relational data storage model.
Without the use of which in practice, the activities of every modern bank and any other organizations that easily operate today with numerous and diverse data sets are simply unthinkable. It is to this talented scientist that we should be grateful for the speed and convenience of all our financial calculations (and not only).
Edgar Frank Codd was born on August 23, 1923 in Portland (Dorset, England) in a large family.
')
However, possessing outstanding mathematical abilities, Codd managed to enter and successfully graduate from Oxford University, where he enthusiastically studied mathematics and chemistry. And after receiving a bachelor's and master's degree in mathematics and chemistry, he even served as a pilot in the British Air Force (during the Second World War).
But the most significant events in the life of Edgar Codd begin to occur in 1949, when he moved to the United States and began work as a software mathematician at IBM.
There, in the early 50s of the last century, he participated in the development of the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator - the first IBM lamp computer, a huge technical "monster" occupying two floors of the New York office in the center of the city.
However, the first serious project of a talented mathematician in this company is the development of a multiprogramming system that makes it possible to simultaneously perform several tasks, and this is intended for IBM STRETCH , a new experimental computer.
By the way, work at IBM significantly influenced Codd's personal life, because it was there that he met his future wife, Sharon, who later became not only the mother of his four children, but his faithful companion and follower of his ideas.
And even in 1953, Codd was forced to move to Canada for a decade, in 1963 he returned to the United States.
After receiving a degree in computer science from the University of Michigan (Edgar Codd graduated as an IBM fellow) with a doctorate in computer science and computing, he began working in the Research Laboratory (today - Almaden Research Center) IBM, located in the famous Silicon Valley.
It was there that the brilliant (and, unequivocally, revolutionary) idea of ​​Codd to create a relational model of data organization finds realization.
In order to fully appreciate the importance and timeliness of this idea, it is worth plunging into the atmosphere of that time, the difficult, but extremely interesting stage of development of the IT industry in the 60s. It was during this period that a certain conflict between two moments was formed and eventually matured, literally "provoking" the direction of creative thought of Edgar Codd.
The moment the first. It is at this time that the transition from the bulkiness of the first computers to dimensions, which are more conducive to use in the private sector, and, above all, in business, occurs. The popularity and availability of computers is increasing, languages ​​and programs are becoming “under the consumer”.
The second moment. Doing any business is usually based on working with a specific array of data. The computer task of the time was to implement two models of using databases: hierarchical and network. In the first case, the data were recorded in a hierarchical order, from the highest level to the lowest, often representing long and complex chains.
In the second, each category of records of the same level could be registered in two different hierarchies of the highest level. But!
All the models used were so complex (requiring the deepest knowledge of navigation data structures when writing search queries) that working with them was only possible for very experienced (and therefore expensive) programmers. And this, in turn, became completely unprofitable (simply unprofitable) to the business itself, which, in fact, the developers were oriented on.
This was the essence of this conflict. Therefore, in the 1960s - 1970s, Edgar Codd expands his work on creating a fundamentally new model of data organization, relational, which is based on the possibility of combining incompatible data groups using common fields.
That is, in fact, the formerly complex structures of search queries (hierarchical and navigation) are replaced with ordinary simple tables consisting of rows and columns. In this case, access to data is carried out through non-procedural language. Easy and convenient!
Codd sounded this ingenious development in his already legendary article “The Relational Data Model for Large Shared Data Banks”, which was released in 1970.
According to colleagues in mathematics, he succeeded in his work masterfully solving the problem of optimal search and control of an array of data through the grace of mathematics and predicate logic. But it is precisely the “beautiful” (not to the detriment of practicality) mathematical calculations in writing programs that were the impossible dream of many programmers of that time.
In 1973, IBM in its Research Lab launches a new project System R , which is designed to begin the industrial implementation of the idea of ​​a relational DBMS, the first product of which was SQL / DS, released in 1981. And this is just the beginning! Subsequently, the DB2 database family will be considered one of the most successful IBM software products. However, the author of the relational model himself considered the language SQL to be insufficient for the complete implementation of his theory.
Continuing work on its development, in 1985, Codd offers his famous “ 12 rules ”, in which he defines in detail his own vision of the optimal content of a relational DBMS.
Due to IBM’s reluctance to abandon SQL, Edgar Codd leaves the corporation to create (with his peer and friend Christopher Data) his own consulting company, where he continues to develop his ideas.
He authored the term OLAP , associated with the acceleration of database execution, as well as twelve (the favorite Codd number) formulated in 1993, the principles of analytical processing of a database. The scientist is engaged in research and practical data modeling (in addition to numerous publications) until his very death, which suddenly caught up with him at the age of 79 years in 2003.
In 1976, Edgar Codd was awarded the honorary title of “IBM Man”, in 1981 with the prestigious Turing Prize , in 2002 his relational data model, according to the authoritative Forbes magazine, was included in the list of the most important innovations over the past 85 years.
One of eight normal forms is named after him - the normal form of Beuys-Codd .
Edgar Frank Codd - a man who put database management on a scientific basis. A true legend for everyone who is somehow connected with databases, their real kind genius!
Want specific examples? You are welcome! The clearest confirmation of this theory is the ingenious and, in fact, revolutionary work of the outstanding mathematician and programmer Edgar Codd in the field of data storage - the development of the idea of ​​a relational data storage model.Without the use of which in practice, the activities of every modern bank and any other organizations that easily operate today with numerous and diverse data sets are simply unthinkable. It is to this talented scientist that we should be grateful for the speed and convenience of all our financial calculations (and not only).
Edgar Frank Codd was born on August 23, 1923 in Portland (Dorset, England) in a large family.
')
However, possessing outstanding mathematical abilities, Codd managed to enter and successfully graduate from Oxford University, where he enthusiastically studied mathematics and chemistry. And after receiving a bachelor's and master's degree in mathematics and chemistry, he even served as a pilot in the British Air Force (during the Second World War).
But the most significant events in the life of Edgar Codd begin to occur in 1949, when he moved to the United States and began work as a software mathematician at IBM.
There, in the early 50s of the last century, he participated in the development of the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator - the first IBM lamp computer, a huge technical "monster" occupying two floors of the New York office in the center of the city.
However, the first serious project of a talented mathematician in this company is the development of a multiprogramming system that makes it possible to simultaneously perform several tasks, and this is intended for IBM STRETCH , a new experimental computer.
By the way, work at IBM significantly influenced Codd's personal life, because it was there that he met his future wife, Sharon, who later became not only the mother of his four children, but his faithful companion and follower of his ideas.
And even in 1953, Codd was forced to move to Canada for a decade, in 1963 he returned to the United States.
After receiving a degree in computer science from the University of Michigan (Edgar Codd graduated as an IBM fellow) with a doctorate in computer science and computing, he began working in the Research Laboratory (today - Almaden Research Center) IBM, located in the famous Silicon Valley.
It was there that the brilliant (and, unequivocally, revolutionary) idea of ​​Codd to create a relational model of data organization finds realization.
In order to fully appreciate the importance and timeliness of this idea, it is worth plunging into the atmosphere of that time, the difficult, but extremely interesting stage of development of the IT industry in the 60s. It was during this period that a certain conflict between two moments was formed and eventually matured, literally "provoking" the direction of creative thought of Edgar Codd.
The moment the first. It is at this time that the transition from the bulkiness of the first computers to dimensions, which are more conducive to use in the private sector, and, above all, in business, occurs. The popularity and availability of computers is increasing, languages ​​and programs are becoming “under the consumer”.
The second moment. Doing any business is usually based on working with a specific array of data. The computer task of the time was to implement two models of using databases: hierarchical and network. In the first case, the data were recorded in a hierarchical order, from the highest level to the lowest, often representing long and complex chains.
In the second, each category of records of the same level could be registered in two different hierarchies of the highest level. But!
All the models used were so complex (requiring the deepest knowledge of navigation data structures when writing search queries) that working with them was only possible for very experienced (and therefore expensive) programmers. And this, in turn, became completely unprofitable (simply unprofitable) to the business itself, which, in fact, the developers were oriented on.
This was the essence of this conflict. Therefore, in the 1960s - 1970s, Edgar Codd expands his work on creating a fundamentally new model of data organization, relational, which is based on the possibility of combining incompatible data groups using common fields.
That is, in fact, the formerly complex structures of search queries (hierarchical and navigation) are replaced with ordinary simple tables consisting of rows and columns. In this case, access to data is carried out through non-procedural language. Easy and convenient!
Codd sounded this ingenious development in his already legendary article “The Relational Data Model for Large Shared Data Banks”, which was released in 1970.
According to colleagues in mathematics, he succeeded in his work masterfully solving the problem of optimal search and control of an array of data through the grace of mathematics and predicate logic. But it is precisely the “beautiful” (not to the detriment of practicality) mathematical calculations in writing programs that were the impossible dream of many programmers of that time.
In 1973, IBM in its Research Lab launches a new project System R , which is designed to begin the industrial implementation of the idea of ​​a relational DBMS, the first product of which was SQL / DS, released in 1981. And this is just the beginning! Subsequently, the DB2 database family will be considered one of the most successful IBM software products. However, the author of the relational model himself considered the language SQL to be insufficient for the complete implementation of his theory.
Continuing work on its development, in 1985, Codd offers his famous “ 12 rules ”, in which he defines in detail his own vision of the optimal content of a relational DBMS.
Due to IBM’s reluctance to abandon SQL, Edgar Codd leaves the corporation to create (with his peer and friend Christopher Data) his own consulting company, where he continues to develop his ideas.
He authored the term OLAP , associated with the acceleration of database execution, as well as twelve (the favorite Codd number) formulated in 1993, the principles of analytical processing of a database. The scientist is engaged in research and practical data modeling (in addition to numerous publications) until his very death, which suddenly caught up with him at the age of 79 years in 2003.
In 1976, Edgar Codd was awarded the honorary title of “IBM Man”, in 1981 with the prestigious Turing Prize , in 2002 his relational data model, according to the authoritative Forbes magazine, was included in the list of the most important innovations over the past 85 years.
One of eight normal forms is named after him - the normal form of Beuys-Codd .
Edgar Frank Codd - a man who put database management on a scientific basis. A true legend for everyone who is somehow connected with databases, their real kind genius!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/158755/
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