> > What you are seeing there is SQLite just repeating back the type that > the CREATE TABLE command used. It is not the type of data SQLite is > actually storing.
> > There is no 'varchar' datatype in SQLite. And it never truncates > strings. > > I think that the best thing for you may be to read this page > > <https://www.sqlite.org/datatype3.html> > I know SQLite goes by the affinity and not by the type. Something like > scripting language - nothing is typed. No SQLite does not "go by" the affinity or anything else, nor is "nothing is typed". Everything is typed and is quite ducky, thank-you. (If you do not understand, look up ducky typing). The only enforced type is that INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid) must be an integer. Other than that, all types are quite ducky, and the affinity is merely a suggestion as to the colour to paint the duck, if possible, before storing it away. > However, what I'm saying is that most DBMS out there do store the size > of the field. then maybe you want to use one of those? > Even though I issue something like: > > CREATE TABLE test( id INTEGER, PRIMARY KEY, test1 VARCHAR(25), test2 > INTEGER(3), test3 FLOAT(25,2) ); > > if I ask for the columns information, I will get: > > id INTEGER > test1 VARCHAR 25 0 > test2 INTEGER 3 0 > test2 FLOAT 25 2 > > So instead of me parsing this info, it can be parsed by SQLite engine. In SQLite you get the above? Pray tell, how? > I understand that for the reason of backward compatibility it will not > be changed, > but it may be something to consider for the next major release (SQLite4). I do not think it has anything to do with backward compatibility. It has to do with something called design. The design of SQLite does not do the things those other DBMSes of which you speak do, because it was DESIGNED not too. Those things that those other DBMSes do are holdovers to maintain backwards compatibility with the good old days when dinosaurs ruled the earth, 1KB of RAM was an earth-shattering amount of memory (and cost more than six dozen modern "coders" will earn in their lifetimes). SQLite is not backwards compatible with those dinosaurs (though it will certainly run on their descendants, which now are quite feisty, run quite quickly, and have memory measured in GB or TB. SQLite started with bitty-boxen already ruling the earth and therefore does not have to maintain the same backwards compatibility as your other DBMSes.
