In computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

, the Perl DBI (DataBase Interface) offers a standardized way for programmers using the Perl

Perl

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

 programming language

Programming language

A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....

 to embed database

Database

A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...

 communication within their programs. The latest DBI module for Perl from CPAN can run on a range of operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s.

In collaboration with others, Tim Bunce began specifying DBI in 1992. the Perl community maintains DBI as a CPAN

CPAN

CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, is an archive of nearly 100,000 modules of software written in Perl, as well as documentation for it. It has a presence on the World Wide Web at and is mirrored worldwide at more than 200 locations...

 module in accordance with the open source

Open source

The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 model. DBD (DataBase Driver) modules serve as plug-ins to DBI, allowing programmers to use near-database-independent SQL

SQL

SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....

 code in their applications. Programmers can also use the DBI and DBD modules indirectly using one of the object-relational mappers available for Perl, such as DBIx::Class

DBIx::Class

DBIx::Class is an object-relational mapper for Perl. It is used to map relational database table rows to Perl objects and generates SQL queries transparently to the application developer. It is popular in Web application frameworks such as Catalyst.-See also:* DBI* Other object-relational mappers...

, for more database-independent code with no need to write SQL.

The DBI and DBD Perl packages allow Perl programmers to access many database environments in a standard way. The system implements each supported database environment as a DBD driver, in much the same way that hardware devices from multiple vendors can operate with different CPU

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

 platforms. Prospective DBD users can download DBD implementations from the Internet. DBD implementations exist for proprietary products such as Oracle

Oracle database

The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....

, Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...

, IBM DB2

IBM DB2

The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...

, and for free-software

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 databases such as SQLite

SQLite

SQLite is an ACID-compliant embedded relational database management system contained in a relatively small C programming library. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain and implements most of the SQL standard...

, PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...

, Firebird

Firebird (database server)

Firebird is an open source SQL relational database management system that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix. The database forked from Borland's open source edition of InterBase in 2000, but since Firebird 1.5 the code has been largely rewritten ....

, and MySQL

MySQL

MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...

.

PHP

PHP

PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

 5 has a similar interface called PHP Data Objects (PDO).http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.pdo.php Java's Java Database Connectivity

Java Database Connectivity

Java DataBase Connectivity, commonly referred to as JDBC, is an API for the Java programming language that defines how a client may access a database. It provides methods for querying and updating data in a database. JDBC is oriented towards relational databases...

(JDBC) is also similar.

External links

• Perl DBI home page
• DBI module documentation on CPAN
• DBD drivers on CPAN