[sgarland]

This is precisely the issue. Databases should not guess at what you want, nor be helpful and make your query work with incorrect types specified.

Schema is rigid; that’s the point. If the input is incorrect, log an error.

[ncruces]

It's a bit hard to take your objection very seriously when the following spits out the same SQLite as in PostgreSQL:

    CREATE TABLE tbl (x integer, y real);
    INSERT INTO tbl VALUES ('001', ' 2.5 ');
    SELECT * FROM tbl;

    1|2.5

Numeric affinity was "invented" in SQLite to make it more compatible with PostgreSQL (et al.).