Dr. Stephen C. Tweedie is a software developer

Software developer

A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...

 who is known for his work on the Linux kernel

Linux kernel

The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....

, in particular his work on filesystems.

After becoming involved with the development of the ext2

Ext2

The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system ....

 filesystem working on performance issues, he led the development of the ext3

Ext3

The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian...

 filesystem which involved adding a journaling

Journaling file system

A journaling file system is a file system that keeps track of the changes that will be made in a journal before committing them to the main file system...

 layer to the ext2 filesystem. For his work on the journaling layer, he has been described by fellow Linux developer Andrew Morton

Andrew Morton (computer programmer)

Andrew Keith Paul Morton is an Australian software engineer, best known as one of the lead developers of the Linux kernel...

 as "a true artisan".

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1969, Tweedie studied computer science at Churchill College, Cambridge

Churchill College, Cambridge

Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.In 1958, a Trust was established with Sir Winston Churchill as its Chairman of Trustees, to build and endow a college for 60 fellows and 540 Students as a national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill; its...

 and the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

, where he did his thesis on Contention and Achieved Performance in Multicomputer Wormhole Routing Networks. After contributing to the Linux kernel in his spare time since the early nineties and working on VMS

OpenVMS

OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...

 filesystem support for DEC

Digital Equipment Corporation

Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...

 for two years, Tweedie was employed by Linux distributor Red Hat

Red Hat

Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....

 where he continues to work on the Linux kernel.

Tweedie has published a number of papers on Linux, including Design and Implementation of the Second Extended Filesystem in 1994, Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem in 1998, and Planned Extensions to the Linux Ext2/Ext3 Filesystem in 2002.

Tweedie is also a frequent speaker on the subject of Linux kernel development at technical conferences. Amongst others, he has given talks on Linux kernel development at the 1997 and 1998 USENIX Annual Technical Conference

USENIX Annual Technical Conference

The USENIX Annual Technical Conference is a conference of computing professions sponsored by the USENIX association. The conference includes computing tutorials, and a single track technical session for presenting refereed research papers, SIG meetings, and BoFs.There have been several notable...

s, the 2000 UKUUG

UKUUG

UKUUG is the UK's Unix and Open Systems User Group a non-profit organization and technical forum for the advocacy of open systems, particularly Unix and Unix-like operating systems, the promotion of Free and Open Source Software , and the advancement of open programming standards and networking...

 conference in London, and he gave the keynote speech at the Ottawa Linux Symposium in 2002.