Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Call-Level Interface
     
         (SQL/CLI) A programming interface
        designed to support {SQL} access to {databases} from
        shrink-wrapped {application programs}.
     
        CLI was originally created by a subcommittee of the {SQL
        Access Group} (SAG).  The SAG/CLI specification was published
        as the {Microsoft} {Open DataBase Connectivity} (ODBC)
        specification in 1992.  In 1993, SAG submitted the CLI to the
        {ANSI} and {ISO} SQL committees.
     
        SQL/CLI provides an international standard
        implementation-independent CLI to access SQL databases.
        {Client-server} tools can easily access databases through
        {dynamic link libraries}.  It supports and encourages a rich
        set of client-server tools.
     
        SQL/CLI is an addendum to 1992 SQL standard (SQL-92).  It was
        completed as ISO standard ISO/IEC 9075-3:1995 Information
        technology -- Database languages -- SQL -- Part 3: Call-Level
        Interface (SQL/CLI).  The current SQL/CLI effort is adding
        support for {SQL3}.
     
        {(http://www.jcc.com/sql_cli.html)}.
     
        (1996-10-27)