ODBC (Open Database Connectivity)

 

Definition: ODBC is a database programming interface from Microsoft that provides a common language for Windows applications to access databases on a network.

What This Means: For client/serverdatabase systems such as Oracle and SQL Server, the ODBC driver provides links to their database engines to access the database. For desktop database systems such as Access and FoxPro, the ODBC drivers actually manipulate the data. ODBC supports SQL and non-SQL databases. Although the application always uses SQL to communicate with ODBC, ODBC will communicate with non-SQL databases in its native language.

 

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