Edgar F. Codd
Edgar F. Codd was a British computer scientist who developed the relational model of database management. He received the 1981 Turing Award.
Relational model: A database model that represents data as relations, commonly displayed as tables, and supports operations grounded in relational algebra. Codd’s defining contribution was formulating this model for database management.
Relation (database): A set of tuples sharing the same attributes, represented in a relational database as a table. Relations are the central structures in Codd’s database model.
IBM: An American technology company founded in 1911, historically known for mainframes, computing research, and enterprise software. Codd developed the relational model while working at IBM’s research center.
Relational database: A database that stores data in relations and uses relational operations to retrieve and manipulate it. Codd’s model became the foundation for a dominant family of database systems.
Relational algebra: A set of operations on relations, including selection, projection, and join, that provides a formal foundation for relational queries. Its operations gave Codd a mathematical basis for manipulating relational data.
Tuple: An ordered collection of values; in a relational database, a tuple corresponds to a row in a relation. Codd’s model organizes each record as a tuple within a relation.
IBM Research: IBM’s research organization, established to conduct scientific and technological research across computing and other fields. Codd’s influential database work emerged from its San Jose research laboratory.
Oracle Database: A relational database management system developed by Oracle Corporation and first released commercially in 1979. Its early commercial success helped bring relational databases into widespread use.
Predicate logic: A formal system for expressing propositions about objects, their properties, and relations. Codd connected relational data to logic-based ways of stating queries.
Database normalization: The process of structuring relational database schemas to reduce redundancy and prevent update anomalies. Normalization became a way to design databases that use the model Codd proposed.