This document provides an overview of using JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) to access databases from Java applications. It discusses the basic 7 steps to using JDBC: 1) load the driver, 2) define the connection URL, 3) establish the connection, 4) create a statement object, 5) execute a query, 6) process the results, and 7) close the connection. It also provides specifics on using Apache Derby, an open-source SQL database that can be used for simple applications and is embedded with Java.