Edgar Frank (Ted) Codd – Data Management Pioneer

Edgar Frank (Ted) Codd is one of 7 children born on the Isle of Portland in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England in August 19th, 1923. During the 1930s he attended Poole Grammar School in Dorset. He was awarded a full scholarship to Oxford University .he volunteered for the military and became a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Coastal Command, flying Sunderlands. After the WW2 he returned to Oxford to complete his studies, switching to mathematics after originally majoring in chemistry and obtained his degree in 1948.

The following year Codd’s computer technology career began at IBM in New York City as a programming mathematician. Early work in his career included developing programs for the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator, developing IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator the IBMs 701 and the world’s first multiprogramming system. Codd's most well known and relevant work to modern computer technology was articulated in his paper 1969 paper A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks it which he introduces the relational data model as well as his 12 rules on defining what is required from a database management system.

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The relational data model follows a similar trend as advancements in technology always does make the product simpler and easier to use by a consumer. The very 1st line in the abstract before any of the complicated computer science comes in to play is “Future users of large data banks must be protected from having to know how the data is organized in the machine”.

so what exactly was ted cod trying to save us from? Well at the time several database products where available in the market at that time; however, they were at best and difficult to navigate and at worse can only be used by those possessing highly specialized technical skills. Furthermore database products lacked theoretical foundation and this where Codds work comes into play. Codd built the foundation using mathematical logic and called it the relative model of data a record based logical model that stores data in a tabular manure watch is a 2d structure that has rows and columns witch made viewing the relevant data to a pertecuer request significantly easier. Any and all database used in our everyday lives can be attributed largely to feed Coods work. Codd alose wrote 12 rules to define what is required from a database management system in the 1980s to father giving foundation to his field.

Today Codd's work is more important than ever before in the 21st century. We live in a world filled with virtually unlimited data and Coods work helps us more easily categorize and understand and view data. For example, a business must collect data so it can view information that isn't generated by themselves in order help boost revenue, see if cuts need to be made, view their demographic, and many more applications. Leading social media company Facebook climates it possesses five hundred terabytes of data each day alone. In science technology math and engineering fields collecting sorting and comparing data is essential to drawing conclusions ie facts and many facts build on each other to create advancements in technology and research. Data collected is so important is it is an essential part of the scientific method Codd relational data model made all these things easier and more accessible using the relational data model.