ODBC

Stands for "Open Database Connectivity." With all the different types of databases available, such as Microsoft Access, Filemaker, and MySQL, it is important to have a standard way of transferring data to and from each kind of database. For this reason, the SQL Access group created the ODBC standard back in 1992. Any application that supports ODBC can access information from an ODBC-compatible database, regardless of what database management system the database uses.

For a database to be ODBC-compatible, it must include an ODBC database driver. This allows other applications to connect to and access information from the database with a standard set of commands. The driver translates standard ODBC commands into commands understood by the database's proprietary system. Thanks to ODBC, a single application (such as Web server program) can access information from several different databases using the same set of commands.

Published: 2005