Conclusion
Data access is complicated enough. Any technique that enables us to write the
code once, and then forget about it, is useful.
Encapsulation is particularly helpful in the case of ODBC, due to the data
standard's inherent limitations. Sooner or later, many organizations that developed
to the ODBC standard will need to migrate to a server-based standard such as
Oracle or SQL Server. This is where encapsulation really shows its stripes,
since only the data access layer need be rewritten! This can reduce the cost
of database migration by a significant margin, thoroughly pleasing everybody
but HotQuant's competitors.
As always, HotQuant welcomes any comments or suggestions. E-mail
is best; we make every effort to respond to all inquiries.