From the SQLite3 documentation:

http://www.sqlite.org/datatype3.html

Most SQL database engines (every SQL database engine other than
SQLite, as far as we know) uses static, rigid typing. With static
typing, the datatype of a value is determined by its container – the
particular column in which the value is stored.

SQLite uses a more general dynamic type system. In SQLite, the
datatype of a value is associated with the value itself, not with its
container. The dynamic type system of SQLite is backwards compatible
with the more common static type systems of other database engines in
the sense that SQL statement that work on statically typed databases
should work the same way in SQLite. However, the dynamic typing in
SQLite allows it to do things which are not possible in traditional
rigidly typed databases.

So in MS Sql Server (for example), an “int” == “integer” == 4 bytes/32 bits.

In contrast, a SqlLite “integer” can hold whatever you put into it: from a 1-byte char to an 8-byte long long.

The above link lists all types, and gives more details about Sqlite “affinity”.

The C/C++ interface you’re referring to must work with strongly typed languages.

So there are two APIs: sqlite3_column_int(), max 4-byte; and sqlite3_column_int64()

http://www.sqlite.org/capi3ref.html#sqlite3_int64