Description:
This boxed set of software and documentation comes from the company that invented ODBC (Open Database Connectivity). The CD-ROM of the ODBC 3.0 SDK (software developer's kit) contains drivers for Windows NT Server, Windows NT Workstation, and Windows 95. The CD-ROM also includes installer utilities, testing tools, and sample applications and similar materials for Alpha and PowerPC platforms. However, the CD-ROM isn't the whole show: the two books that come with this boxed set explain, to a limited degree, how to write programs that use ODBC. The first volume of the set explains how to connect to a driver, form an SQL (structured query language) statement, and perform actions upon a database. The book covers networked databases well, but the information is predictably slanted toward Windows NT environments. The books devote much more space to documenting the ODBC API (application programming interface) completely. As is typical of Microsoft API documentation, the two volumes give information about each API call's version compatibility, purpose, syntax, arguments, and return values. Entries also include some troubleshooting information, related-item data, and comments. Experienced programmers crave this kind of documentation and the Microsoft User Education team, led by Jim van de Erve, does a fine job of providing it.
| 
