Open Database Connectivity: a standard promulgated by Microsoft that allows databases created by various database management programs-such as DBASE, Microsoft Access, Microsoft FoxPro, and Oracle to be accessed using a common interface independent of the database file format. By relying on ODBC, one can write an application that uses the same code to read records from a DBASE file or a FoxPro file. Internally, ODBC drivers use a form of SQL to carry out database operations. See also SQL and WOSA.
