Acronym for Open DataBase Connectivity.

ODBC is an standard (in the form of an API) for accessing databases, regardless of what software they are running. In the most basic level you make database calls to ODBC, which translates them into the flavour of SQL that the underlying DataBase understands; the answers are translated back into ODBC result objects and returned to the user.

The standard was defined by the SQL Access Group, formed in 1989 to "define and promote standards for database portability and interoperability". It is based on their Call-Level Interface. MicrosoftCorporation was one of the first people to implement and release a commercial product based on ODBC, but contrary to popular belief, did not define or standardize it.

For ODBC drivers for Linux and UNIX-like platforms, try http://www.unixodbc.org/.