4. "Middleware" - Interfaces to Databases

4.1.1. SQL-CLI or ODBC

• SQL/CLI - ODBC

• UnixODBC.org

• unixODBC

• Platform Independent ODBC

• The Infamous Win32::ODBC FAQ

• FreeODBC

• freeodbc++ - an object oriented wrapper for ODBC

• Trifox

  They produce "VORTEXchannel," a middleware package that connects to various SQL/CLI (aka ODBC ) managers, as well as an interactive report generator called TRIMreport and a QBE enduser report generator called TRIMqmr.

• OpenLink

  They produce ODBC (aka SQL/CLI), JDBC (Java database connectivity), and "UDBC" drivers that support (on the OS side) Linux, all MS-Windows platforms, many Unix flavors, OS/2, VMS, and Mac, and (on the DB side) Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Ingres, Unify, Progress, PostgreSQL, Solid, Kubl, Velocis.

  They have released OpenLink as "Open Source" software.

• EasySQL - DB-independent C/C++ SQL interface library

• Easysoft ODBC-ODBC Bridge

  The ODBC-ODBC Bridge is a package of libraries which provide applications on Linux with access to ODBC data sources on remote machines.

  Easysoft also offers ODBC drivers for ISAM/RMS file systems, an SQL engine, and, parallelling the ODBC-ODBC Bridge, a JDBC-ODBC Bridge for the Java users...

• DBI is very popular with users of Perl .

• SrPersist

  SrPersist ("Sister Persist") is a set of Scheme bindings to Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) for use with MzScheme.

• CommonSQL

  A protocol using CLOS to describe connections to SQL databases for use with Common Lisp.

• CLISP Oracle Interface

  Not surprisingly, an interface to allow programs run using CLISP to access Oracle databases.

• Pg: a Common Lisp interface to PostgreSQL

• Postmodern - PostgreSQL library for Common Lisp

• kinterbasdb - a Python Extension Package for the Interbase/ Firebird Relational Database

• oci8ml - Bindings for Oracle8 for OCAML

• PGOCaml - PostgreSQL binding for OCaml

• ADODB

  ADODB is a PHP API for database access, consciously similar to Microsoft's ADO database API. ADOdb stands for Active Data Objects Data Base.

  It supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Interbase, Informix, Oracle, MS SQL 7, Foxpro, Access, ADO, SAP DB, SQLite, Sybase, DB2 and generic ODBC.

4.1.2. Java - JDBC

The JDBC Data Access API has grown very popular for use in Java applications, allowing common access to almost any sort of tabular data source.

There are on the order of hundreds of drivers for various SQL RDBMSes as well as other systems such as LDAP, xBASE , and some other non-relational database systems.

4.1.3. TDS - Tabular Data Stream

Sybase introduced TDS as

• FreeTDS

  This project has been reverse engineering the TDS protocol, as the licensing terms for the specs as available from Sybase are rather restrictive.

• TDS Specs - Freely Redistributable

4.1.4. DRDA - Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA)

IBM has introduced DRDA as a protocol for communications between diverse databases. It might be used as a transport for ODBC requests. Many of the major database systems support DRDA, including DB/2, Oracle, Sybase, Informix.

• IBM Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA*)

• SQL Reunion

  This interview with Jim Gray contains considerable historical detail on the development of ODBC and DRDA.

• DRDA Vol. 1: Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) - TOG

4.1.5. Other APIs, Libraries, and Protocols

• Jsql

  Commercial software that connects to relational databases like MySql, Sybase, and Oracle and submits SQL queries and commands to the target databases.

• Aubit 4GL

  A project to provide a GPL-licensed compiler compatible with code for Informix 4GL.

  Allows embedding C in your application code, uses ODBC to connect to databases, and provides presentation layers using ncurses and GTK.

• MySQL Wrapper similar to MS "DAO"

• PySQLite - interface to SQLite .

• SQLObject

  Translates RDBMS table rows into Python objects; supports major DBMSes like PostgreSQL

• Why QOF?

  Linas Vespas' "polemic" on the merits of using his QOF - Query Object Framework to do structured queries on data held by C/C++ objects. Part of the point is to defend the use of C over other languages...