1. Introduction : What Is OpenAPI? : Common Features of Application Programming Interfaces
 
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Common Features of Application Programming Interfaces
OpenAPI is an application programming interface, similar to Microsoft Windows ODBC and the X/Open Company SQL Call Level Interface. Application programming interfaces share the following features:
A standard set of function calls for accessing a database
This makes an application programming interface ideally suited for a client/server environment, in which the target database may not be known when the application is built.
No requirements for host variables or other embedded SQL concepts
Application developers who are familiar with function calls find an application programming interface straightforward to use.
Preprocessor independence
SQL statements are sent to a DBMS Server as input parameters in a function call. Query results are returned to the application as output parameters from the function call.