SQL Server not only manages information but also makes that information easy to access and easy to use with other applications.
Windows 95 and Windows NT are both 32-bit operating systems that implement the Win32 API and free programmers from the restrictions of 16-bit programming. Under Windows NT, Win32 applications automatically support symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and can be easily recompiled for high speed RISC processors like DEC Alpha and PowerPC.
SQL Server is designed not only to manage information, but also to make that information easy to access and easy to use. Hundreds of leading applications support SQL Server today by using ODBC and DB-Library application program interfaces (APIs). Both ODBC and DB-Library provide everything you need to build powerful client/server applications.
ODBC allows you to create portable DBMS applications. ODBC is an industry-standard, database-independent, API for creating applications that support multiple datasources on Windows 95, Windows NT, and Windows 3.x platforms. ODBC drivers are also available for OS/2 and leading UNIX environments.
DB-Library provides the same basic functionality as ODBC, but also includes some special functions for high-speed data loading (bulk copy), and image and text operations.
Note You can build 32-bit applications with either DB-Library or ODBC, but remember that ODBC is more widely supported.
The following illustration shows their relationship to each other and to SQL Server.
Both DB-Library and ODBC communicate with SQL Server by using the Tabular Data Stream (TDS). TDS is the self-defining protocol used by Microsoft SQL Server to transfer requests and responses between the client and the server. The Net-Library provides a transport-independent method of sending TDS across a physical network connection. As you can see from the preceding illustration, ODBC is not layered on top of DB-Library and therefore provides the same performance as DB-Library applications.