What do you understand by JDBC driver and explain its types?

JDBC drivers are software that enables the Java application to connect with the database. For a better understanding, if you want to connect an individual database you need a driver for each database. JDBC drivers are very much like to ADO.NET data provider, OLE DB provider, ODBC driver. It has connections and classes that are very useful in Java application and its database.

It has four types and these are: -

• JDBC-ODBC bridge driver:
This bridge is primarily used for the connection of ODBC driver to the database. As the name suggests, this driver converts JDBC method calls into ODBC calls. This driver is highly efficient as it is easy to use. This can be connected to any of the databases very easily. This driver is currently disheartened because of the thin wire
• Native-API driver or partially java driver:
This driver is far better than the JDBC-ODBC driver with respect to performance. This driver utilizes the client-side libraries of the database. As the name suggests, it is partially written in java language. The native- API driver is used to convert the JDBC calls into native calls of the database API. The only quibble of this driver is that it is necessary to be installed on each client machine. It is the fastest driver of all of the drivers.
• Network Protocol driver or fully java driver:
This driver is used to convert the JDBC calls into the vendor-specific database protocol directly or indirectly. It does not require any client-side library. This driver is able to perform many tasks such as logging, load balancing, auditing etc.
• Thin driver or fully java driver:
As the name suggests, this driver converts the JDBC calls into the vendor-specific database protocol directly. It is more efficient in performance than those of other drivers rather than that is depends on the database.