Working with Databases
Excel has much in common with database programs. Both kinds of software keep track of a list of records (like cards in a card catalog—or rows of a spreadsheet), and let you browse through those records and even perform some calculations on them. No wonder Excel is so adept at incorporating database files into its spreadsheets; Excel 2008 can access data in Web pages and FileMaker Pro databases, and may be able to use open database connectivity to access data from additional databases such as Microsoft SQL Server. Open database connectivity, usually called ODBC (pronounced “oh-dee-bee-see”), is a standard set of rules for transferring information among databases, even if the databases are in different programs from different companies.
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