JDBC stands for Java Database Connectivity, which is a standard Java API for database-independent connectivity between the Java programming language and a wide range of databases. The JDBC library includes APIs for each of the tasks commonly associated with database usage:
- Making a connection to a database
- Creating SQL or MySQL statements
- Executing that SQL or MySQL queries in the database
- Viewing & Modifying the resulting records
Fundamentally, JDBC is a specification that provides a complete set of interfaces that allows for portable access to an underlying database. Java can be used to write different types of executables, such as:
- Java Applications
- Java Applets
- Java Servlets
- Java ServerPages (JSPs)
- Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs)
All of these different executables are able to use a JDBC driver to access a database and take advantage of the stored data. JDBC provides the same capabilities as ODBC, allowing Java programs to contain database-independent code.