Overview of SQL and ODBC

ODBC was created to provide a uniform method of access to different, or heterogeneous, database management systems. This chapter discusses some of the concepts and history behind the development of ODBC, including:

• SQL and the various ways that applications use it.
  
  
• How network database access is done in the real world and what parts of this process can easily be standardized.
  
  
• Strategies used by ODBC and why those strategies were chosen.