ODBC data sources

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a standard application programming interface (API) for accessing database management systems (DBMS). It provides a common interface for applications to interact with various relational and non-relational databases, abstracting away the specifics of each…

Key facts

First appeared: 1992
Category: technology
Problem solved: ODBC solved the pervasive problem of database access heterogeneity, where developers had to write unique, database-specific code for each DBMS their application needed to interact with. It provided a single, standardized API for connecting to and querying diverse databases, enabling 'write once, connect anywhere' database access.
Platforms: Unix-like systems (Linux, macOS, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX), Microsoft Windows

Related technologies

Python
Delphi
MySQL
Excel
Microsoft Access
PostgreSQL
Visual Basic
Tableau
Business Intelligence tools
Oracle Database
IBM Db2
SQL Server
Power BI
C/C++
Java (via JDBC-ODBC Bridge)
PHP
ETL tools

Notable users

SAP
Microsoft
Various enterprise software vendors
Business Intelligence and ETL tool developers
IBM
Oracle
QlikTech
Teradata
Salesforce (via connectors)