The Structured Query Language (SQL)
The Structured Query Language (SQL) is a standard language for performing database operations. Although the language itself is a standard (and most database vendors support the standard fairly well), the way you access the database isn't standardized. Every database vendor has its own special API for sending SQL requests, although with the advent of the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) API, you can write programs that can work with a variety of databases. As you'll see in Chapter 3, the Java database API—JDBC—lets you work with multiple databases easily.
Note
JDBC is actually based on ODBC, as far as the kinds of objects you use.
Many database vendors supply you with a graphical query tool or a command-line ...
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