What is DBI, DBperl, Oraperl and *perl?
To quote Tim Bunce, the architect and author of DBI: “DBI is a database access Application Programming Interface (API) for the Perl Language. The DBI API Specification defines a set of functions, variables and conventions that provide a consistent database interface independant of the actual database being used.” In simple language, the DBI interface allows users to access multiple database types transparently. So, if you connecting to an Oracle, Informix, mSQL, Sybase or whatever database, you don’t need to know the underlying mechanics of the 3GL layer. The API defined by DBI will work on all these database types. A similar benefit is gained by the ability to connect to two different databases of different vendor within the one perl script, ie, I want to read data from an Oracle database and insert it back into an Informix database all within one program. The DBI layer allows you to do this simply and powerfully.
