JDBC Version and History

The following table lists JDBC past versions and implementations:
Year JDBC Version JSR Specification JDK Implementation

2006   JDBC 4.0       JSR 221             Java SE 6
2001   JDBC 3.0       JSR 54              JDK 1.4
1999   JDBC 2.1                           JDK 1.2?
1997   JDBC 1.2                           JDK 1.1?

Main new features introduced in JDBC 4.0 API are:
Automatic loading of java.sql.Driver
ROWID data type support
National Character Set Conversion Support
SQL/XML and XML Support

Note that JDBC 4.0 API has been implemented in Java SE 6. But JDBC drivers of specific database servers for JDBC 4.0 API may still not available. Since JDBC 4.0 API is backward compatible, there is no problem with using Java SE 6 with JDBC 3.0 drivers, as long as you do not use the new methods or classes there were introduced in JDBC 4.0 API.

Джерело:http://www.herongyang.com/jdbc/Overview-JDBC-Version.html