[samatman]

> No current type system, static or otherwise, attempts to say "'123' is a numeric, would you like to make it an int ?"

SQLite's column type affinity will in fact do this, if you tell SQLite that a column is an INTEGER it will turn '123' into 123 but will happily take a string like "widget" and just store it.

I also wanted to add that your thoughts on this subject are well-stated and align with some work I've been patiently chipping away at, in the intersection of gradual typing and unit testing. I'll have more to say on that subject someday...