The database community has created a plethora of data-access acronyms. Are you finding yourself confused about them? What follows is the nickel tour of most of Microsoft's current offerings.
ODBC is a C/C++ API designed to target different sources from the same source code by substituting different drivers. It provides access to server-specific extensions, and developers can write code to query which extensions are available. ODBC is at the core of many other Microsoft technologies.
DAO is designed for desktop and decision-support access to data. It's based on Microsoft's Jet database-engine technology and uses Jet to gain access to other sources.
RDO is an object interface to ODBC, and it's similar to DAO in its programming techniques.
ODBCDirect integrates RDO methods directly into DAO.
ADO is the high-level name for a group of extensible, object-oriented data-access technologies that are designed to simplify and extend data access. Here you'll find ADO in Microsoft Transaction Server 1.0 and Internet Information Server (IIS) 3.0.
OLE DB is the C/C++ COM-based component architecture that underlies ADO. It provides access to all sorts of structured and nonstructured data sources using existing ODBC drivers for access to RDBMSes.
UDA is Microsoft's future direction. This technology combines ADO, ODBC, and OLE DB.
Flexible C++
Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it
is
theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.
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The Seven Data Samurai
