ODBC is the abbreviation for open database connectivity, a standard for interacting with relational databases that has been considerably influenced by Microsoft. The aim of the standard is that applications can work with multiple databases with little to no adjustments in code.
This is made possible by combining three components with each other:
- Database vendors supply
ODBC drivers <odbc_driver>. - An ODBC
driver manager <odbc_driver_manager>manages ODBC data sources. Applications <odbc_application>use the ODBC driver manager to connect to data sources.
Turbodbc makes it easy to build applications that use the ODBC driver manager, but it still requires the driver manager to be configured correctly so that your databases are found.