What is the Oracle Call Interface?

The Oracle Call Interface (OCI) is a set of low-level APIs (Application Programming Interface Calls) used to interact with Oracle databases. It allows one to use operations like logon, execute, parse, fetch, etc. OCI programs are normally written in C or C++, although they can be written in almost any programing language.

Unlike with the Oracle Precompilers (like Pro*C and Pro*COBOL), OCI programs are not precompiled. For more information about the other language precompilers, read the Oracle Precompilers FAQ.