Modern database engines support a wide variety of data types. Native support for all of the types is desirable and convenient for the database application developer, as it allows application data to be stored in the database without further conversion. However, support for each data type adds complexity to the database engine code. To achieve a compromise between convenience and complexity, the semantic binary database engine is designed to support only the binary data type in its kernel. Other data types are supported in the user-level environment by add-on modules. This solution allows us to keep the database kernel small and ensures the stability and robustness of the database engine as a whole. By providing extra database tools, it also allows application designers to get database-wide support for additional data types.
