Editing Open Database Connectivity (section)

===JET and ODBC===
During this time, Microsoft was in the midst of developing their [[Jet Database Engine|Jet database system]]. Jet combined three primary subsystems; an [[ISAM]]-based database engine (also named ''Jet'', confusingly), a C-based interface allowing applications to access that data, and a selection of driver [[Dynamic-Link Libraries|dynamic-link libraries]] (DLL) that allowed the same C interface to redirect input and output to other ISAM-based databases, like [[Paradox (database)|Paradox]] and [[xBase]]. Jet allowed using one set of calls to access common microcomputer databases in a fashion similar to Blueprint, by then renamed DataLens. However, Jet did not use SQL; like DataLens, the interface was in C and consisted of [[data structure]]s and function calls.

The SAG standardization efforts presented an opportunity for Microsoft to adapt their Jet system to the new CLI standard. This would not only make Windows a premier platform for CLI development, but also allow users to use SQL to access both Jet and other databases as well. What was missing was the SQL parser that could convert those calls from their text form into the C-interface used in Jet. To solve this, MS partnered with [[PageAhead Software]] to use their existing query processor, SIMBA. SIMBA was used as a parser above Jet's C library, turning Jet into an SQL database. And because Jet could forward those C-based calls to other databases, this also allowed SIMBA to query other systems. Microsoft included drivers for Excel to turn its spreadsheet documents into SQL-accessible database tables.<ref name=simba>{{cite book |last=Harindranath |first=G |author2=Jože Zupančič |title=New perspectives on information systems development: theory, methods, and practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8Loa-c0TyoC |access-date=2010-07-28 |year=2001 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-47251-0 |page=451 |quote=The first ODBC drivers […] used the SIMBA query processor, which translated calls into the Microsoft Jet ISAM calls, and dispatched the calls to the appropriate ISAM driver to access the backend […] }}</ref>