The third approach is to use the APIs provided by the programming languages 

like PHP, Perl, or Python.

There are several APIs available in MySQL: 

C API

The C API code is distributed with MySQL and is included in the 

mysqlclient

library. It allows C programs to access a MySQL database.

C++ API

The MySQL Connector/C++ is also distributed by MySQL AB. Information can 

be found at:

http://www.mysql.com/products/mysql++/

JDBC API

The Connector/J is provided by MySQL AB and is used as a plugin in JDBC 

to allow Java applications to connect to MySQL server. Information about 

Connector/J can be found at:

http://www.mysql.com/products/connector j/

ODBC API

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is an API, which is based on the 

Call Level Interface (CLI) specifications. The Connector/ODBC is provided by 

MySQL AB and is called MyODBC. Additional Information can be found: 

http://www.mysql.com/products/myodbc/

PHP API

PHP contains support for accessing several databases including MySQL. 

Information about MySQL access can be found in the PHP documentation, 

which can be downloaded at:

http://www.php.net/download docs.php

.

PERL API

The Perl API consists of a generic Perl interface and a special database 

driver. The generic interface in Perl is called Database Interface (DBI) and for 

MySQL the driver is called DBD::mysql. This driver however does not support 

transactions. For transactions (see 1.2.2,  MySQL design and SQL 

compliance  on page 32) another driver, called DBD myslq is needed. 

Information according DBI can be found at:

http://dbi.perl.org/

Python API

The API to connect to MySQL for Python is call MySQLdb, and can be found 

at

http://sourceforgel.net/projects/mysql python/

Tcl API

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MySQL to DB2 UDB Conversion Guide