Backward Compatibility and Standards Compliance

Backward compatibility is the ability of newer ODBC components to work with old ODBC components. The following sections discuss how these components are affected by the changes in ODBC 3.0. The information contained in them primarily addresses the writing of an ODBC 3.0 application and how backward compatibility issues are handled by ODBC drivers. For specific guidelines on how backward compatibility issues affect the writing of an ODBC 3.0 drivers, see Appendix G, “Driver Guidelines for Backward Compatibility.”