ODBC
Database client technologies provide abstractions. That is their purpose. A database is a very complex piece of software. Writing programs to communicate with a database through its native interface can be very complicated. Database client technologies simplify this process.
In order to suck data from z/OS for instance....
set up a .bat file in Windows containing something like this...
ftp -s:getplex1.txt
make a .txt (in this case getplex1.txt) like this...
open 10.194.101.66 i.e. the home address of the z/OS system
usprhpa i.e. your RACF userid
mar2007 i.e. your RACF password (oops)
prompt
ascii
cd /
cd 'sys1dd.proclib'
lcd cpsm
lcd proclib
mget Cts*
mget cics*
mget ctg*
mget cpsm*
cd /
lcd ..
cd 'cics.cts31d.sysin'
lcd parms
mget *
cd /
lcd ..
cd 'cics.cts31d.jcllib'
lcd jcl
mget *
cd /
lcd ..
cd 'cics.cts31d.tabsrce'