EXEC Object
This object represents the API. It provides all methods and is available within every template, module and will also be passed to all relevant system-functions. The EXEC object contains some child objects which provide the API methods. Within modules and templates there are shortcuts to easily access these child objects.
12345// Select all records of a table via the EXEC object
$EXEC->data->select("data_api_test");
// Within templates and modules you may use a shortcut
$DATA->select("data_api_test");