INFORMIX
Informix JDBC Driver Programmer's Guide
Glossary
Contents Index

Glossary

applet
A Java program that adheres to certain conventions that allow it to run within a Java-enabled browser.

appletviewer
A JavaSoft command that allows you to run applets outside of the context of a Web browser.

autocommit
Mode in which a COMMIT statement is automatically executed after each statement sent to the database server.

blobspace
A logical collection of chunks that is used to store TEXT and BYTE data.

BYTE
A built-in data type for a simple large object that stores any type of binary data and can be as large as 231 bytes.

catalogs
In Informix JDBC Driver, a list of all the Informix databases within a particular database server.

class
An encapsulated collection of data, and the methods that operate on the data. Classes are instantiated to produce objects.

CLASSPATH
An environment variable that tells the Java virtual machine (JVM) and other applications where to find the Java class libraries used in a Java program.

commit
An action that makes the changes to a database permanent and ends a transaction.

connection
An association between an application and a database environment, created by a CONNECT or DATABASE statement. Database servers can also have connections to one another.

CORBA
(Common Object Request Broker Architecture) The CORBA 2.0 specification describes a convention called Object Request Broker (ORB), the infrastructure for distributed-object computing. CORBA enables client applications to communicate with remote objects and invoke operations statically or dynamically.

database URL
URL passed to the DriverManager.getConnection() method that specifies the subprotocol (the database connectivity mechanism), the database or database server identifier, and a list of properties that can include Informix environment variables.

dbspace
A logical collection of one or more chunks of contiguous disk space within which you store databases and tables. Because chunks represent specific regions of disk space, the creators of databases and tables can control where their data is physically located by placing databases or tables in specific dbspaces. Large objects are stored in sbspaces.

debug version of driver
A version of Informix JDBC Driver that has been compiled with the -g option used for debugging and tracing. The JAR file that contains the debug version is named ifxjdbc-g.jar.

digital signature
A string of bits that is computed from some data (the data being "signed") and the private key of an entity. The signature can be used to verify that the data came from the entity.

domain name
The unique name that identifies an internet site, such as mysite.com.

exception
A signal that some unexpected condition has occurred in a program.

interface
A named collection of method definitions (without implementations). An interface can also include constant declarations.

IP address
Unique ID of every computer on the Internet. The format consists of four numerical strings separated by dots, such as 123.45.67.89.

jar
JavaSoft utility to create Java archive files.

JDBC
The JavaSoft specification of a standard application programming interface (API) that allows Java programs to access database management systems. The JDBC API consists of a set of interfaces and classes written in the Java programming language.

JDBC Driver
An implementation of the JDBC API interfaces and classes for a particular database vendor.

JDBC API
The public and protected methods of all the public classes in the java.sql package.

metadata
Data about data. Metadata provides information about data in the database or used in the application. Metadata can be data attributes, such as name, size, and data type, or descriptive information about data.

method
The object-oriented programming term for a function or a procedure.

optimized version of the driver
A version of Informix JDBC Driver that has been compiled with the -O option for optimal performance. The JAR file that contains the optimized version is named ifxjdbc.jar.

package
A collection of related classes and interfaces that provides access protection and name space management.

port number
The port that a database server or Web server is listening on. In a database or Web URL, the port number is listed right after the IP address or domain name.

RMI
(Remote Method Invocation) A method for creating distributed Java-to-Java applications, in which the methods of remote Java objects can be invoked from other Java virtual machines, possibly on different hosts.

rollback
An action that cancels the changes made to a database since the last COMMIT statement and ends the current transaction.

schema
In Informix JDBC Driver, a list of all the Informix users who own tables.

SERIAL, SERIAL8
Informix data types that store sequential integers assigned automatically by the database server when a row is inserted. A column of data type SERIAL requires four bytes of storage; a column of data type SERIAL8 requires eight bytes of storage.

signed applet
An applet that contains a digital signature.

simple large object
A large object that is stored in a blobspace, is not recoverable, and does not obey transaction isolation modes. Simple large objects include TEXT and BYTE data types.

SLQState
A variable set by the database server after it executes each SQL statement.

TEXT
A built-in data type for a simple large object that stores text data and can be as large as 231 bytes.

tuple buffer
The section of Informix JDBC Driver memory that stores the retrieved rows from a SELECT statement.

user name
A user ID that must be valid on all computers involved in the client's database access. Often referred to as the client's user ID or login.

user password
A user ID password that must be valid on all computers involved in the client's database access. When the client specifies an explicit user ID, most computer systems require the user password to validate the user ID.



Informix JDBC Driver Programmer's Guide, Version 1.22
Copyright © 1998, Informix Software, Inc. All rights reserved.