ODBC
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) is a standard API (Application Programming Interface) for accessing database management systems (DBMS). It provides a uniform way for applications to interact with different databases, abstracting away the specifics of proprietary database APIs through the use…
Key facts
- First appeared
- 1992
- Category
- technology
- Problem solved
- ODBC was created to solve the problem of application developers needing to learn and write code against multiple proprietary APIs to access different database systems. Before ODBC, an application written to connect to Oracle would require significant changes to connect to SQL Server or DB2, leading to vendor lock-in and increased development complexity.
- Platforms
- Various embedded systems, Linux, Windows, macOS, Unix-like systems (via unixODBC, iODBC)
Related technologies
Notable users
- IBM (for DB2)
- Various Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (e.g., Tableau, QlikView)
- Many custom enterprise applications (especially in C/C++)
- SAP (for HANA)
- ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) Tools (e.g., Informatica, SSIS)
- Oracle (for Oracle Database connectivity)
- Microsoft (for SQL Server, Access, Excel, Power BI)