Hacker News Reader

The ANY datatype in STRICT mode behaves the same as a column with no datatype at all in ordinary SQLite. ANY does not give you any new capabilities.

View on HN

I see. I like SQLite but the idea that there were people leaving the type information off of their columns entirely to take advantage of this hidden(?) "feature" is something I'll wonder about for a while.

That's how I've always used SQLite, with no column type information, then I use the API to populate the column with type information as well as the value, thus implying the Any type. This is now explicit in strict tables.

As an embedded SQL engine I think this is the most rational way to use it, making it very predictable and very flexible.

Today I decided to take a leaf out of your book and use this feature, it does seem appropriate in this case.

As they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com