JDBC stands for Java Database Connectivity, which is a Java API that allows Java programs to access and interact with databases. It is a specification from Sun Microsystems that provides a standard abstraction for Java applications to communicate with various databases. JDBC is a collection of interface definitions and specifications, which allows multiple implementations of these interfaces.
JDBC provides a common interface for connecting to a database, issuing queries and commands, and handling result sets obtained from the database. It is used to write programs required to access databases and can access databases and spreadsheets. The enterprise data stored in a relational database can be accessed with the help of JDBC APIs.
Before JDBC, developers used Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), a language-agnostic standard approach to accessing a relational database management system. JDBC was initially conceived as a client-side API, enabling a Java client to interact with a data source. That changed with JDBC 2.0, which included an optional package supporting server-side JDBC connections. Every new JDBC release since then has featured updates to both the client-side package (java.sql) and the server-side package.
JDBC drivers are used to connect with the database, and there are four types of JDBC drivers. The current version of JDBC is 4.3, which is based on the X/Open SQL Call Level Interface. The java.sql package contains classes and interfaces for JDBC API.
In summary, JDBC is an API used in Java programming to interact with databases. It provides a standard abstraction for Java applications to communicate with various databases and allows Java programs to access and interact with databases.
