My heart was heavy on Friday, when I discovered that Dr. Edgar F. Codd passed away on April 18th.
Dr. E. F. Codd is recognized as the man who did the math to come up with the relational calculus. Just think this guy really made all the great web apps we use to day possible. Because these ideas govern the functioning of relational databases.
And what a geek too. He was like “Umm, I’m too geeky to build the thing, I’m gonna define the rules by which it will work, and prove it to a mathematica certainty.” Wow! That takes chutzpah! Yes, I can prove that you will be able to store and retrieve your data.
And this was all done in th 70’s. The big daddy relational systems were not available until the mid 80’s, and oracle didn’t come on the scene until after IBM’s DB software…
The real pity though, is that he never got any real financial remuneration from this! All that work, and no pay!
Anyway, the world is less of place after April 18th.
