> I'm a bit confused about the driver URL to use with Firebird
>
> sometimes I see:
>
> jdbc:firebirdsql:localhost/3050:c:/database/employee.gdb
>
> other times I see:
>
> jdbc:firebirdsql://localhost:3050/c:/database/employee.gdb
>
> what is the correct syntax?

Both. First one is the native Firebird syntax, second is more
convenient for those that were using InterClient before.