The JDBC API is based mainly on a set of interfaces, not classes.

Its up to the manufacturer of the driver to implement the interfaces with their own set of classes. The above figure is a class diagram that shows the basic JDBC classes and interfaces; these make up the core API. Notice that the only concrete class is DriverManager. The rest of the core API is a set of interfaces. DriverManager is used to load a JDBC Driver. A Driver is a software vendors implementation of the JDBC API. After a driver is loaded, DriverManager is used to get a Connection. In turn, a Connection is used to create a Statement, or to create and prepare a PreparedStatement or CallableStatement. Statement and PreparedStatement objects are used to execute SQL statements. CallableStatement objects are used to execute stored procedures. A Connection can also be used to get a DatabaseMetaData object describing a databases functionality. The results of executing a SQL statement using a Statement or PreparedStatement are returned as a ResultSet. A ResultSet can be used to get the actual returned data or a ResultSetMetaData object that can be queried to identify the types of data returned in the ResultSet. type1 : JDBC (ODBC) Bridge Drivers: This type uses bridge technology to connect a Java Client to a third party API such as ODBC. Sun's JDBC-ODBC bridge is an example of this driver. These drivers are implemented using native code. ex: "sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver" "jdbc:odbc: dsn" type2 : Native API (Part Java Drivers): These drivers wraps a native API with java classes. The OCI driver is an example of type 2. Because type 2 drivers implemented using local native code, it is expected to have better performance than a pure java drivers. ex: "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" "jdbc:oracle:oci8:@sid" type3 : JDBC-Net Protocol Drivers (Pure Java Drivers):

These drivers communicate using a network protocol to a middle-tier server. The middle tier in turn communicates the Database. Oracle doesn't provide a type3 driver. They do however have a program called "Connection Manager" that, when used in combination with Oracle's type 4 driver, acts as a type 3 drivers in many respects. ex: "ids.sql.IDSDriver" "jdbc.jds://ids.ip:12/con?dsn= dsn" type4 : Native Protocol, (Pure Java Driver) : This type of drivers written early in Java, communicates directly with the Database. No local native code is required. Oracle's thin driver is an example for this. "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" "jdbc:oracle:thin:@ip:1521:sid"