Open DataBase Connectivity
<standard, database> (ODBC) A
standard for accessing different
database systems.
There are interfaces for
Visual Basic,
Visual C++,
SQL and the ODBC driver pack contains drivers for the
Access,
Paradox,
dBase, Text,
Excel and
Btrieve databases.
An application can submit statements to ODBC using the ODBC flavor of SQL.
ODBC then translates these to whatever flavor the database understands.
ODBC 1.0 was released in September 1992.
ODBC is based on
Call-Level Interface and was defined by the
SQL Access Group.
Microsoft was one member of the group and was the first company to release a commercial product based on its work (under
Microsoft Windows) but ODBC is not a Microsoft standard (as many people believe).
ODBC drivers and development tools are available now for
Microsoft Windows,
Unix,
OS/2, and
Macintosh.
[On-line document?]
["Unix Review", Aug 1995].
