BDE stands for the Borland Database Engine , and it is a program that manages database information. Many legal programs lend themselves well to database-style programming techniques because they involve similar information that is treated consistently.
Bankruptcy petitions are a good example.
While they may contain many creditors, each creditor is similar in that its component information is identical. For example, each creditor has a name, each has an address, phone number, balance owed by the debtor, etc. A database engine allows programmers to utilize an existing programming component so they don t need to reinvent the wheel each time they develop a new program that deals with rows and columns of information. The tried and tested database engine components are rock solid in terms of stability, and therefore you can depend on them to a greater degree than you can with Version 1 technology. Hey, why do you think they also call it bleeding-edge technology.