More background http://www.datastax.com/dev/blog/thrift-to-cql3
> So does this mean that in CQL 3 an explicit schema is absolutely > mandatory? Not really, it sort of depends on your view. Lets say this is a "schema free" CF definition in CLI create column family clicks with key_validation_class = UTF8Type and comparator = DateType and default_validation_class = UTF8Type It could be used for wide rows with lots of columns, where the name is a date. As the article at the top says, this CQL 3 DDL is equivalent: CREATE TABLE clicks ( key text, column1 timestamp, value text, PRIMARY KEY (key, column) ) WITH COMPACT STORAGE This creates a single row inside C*, column name is a date. The difference is CQL 3 pivots this one "storage engine" row into multiple CQL 3 rows. (See article) So far so good. Let's add some schema: CREATE TABLE clicks ( user_id text, click_time timestamp, click_url text, PRIMARY KEY (user_id, click_time) ) WITH COMPACT STORAGE That's functionally the same but has some more schema in it. It tells CQL 3 that the label to use for the name of a column is "click_time". Previously the label was "column1". > It's now impossible (within CQL) to add new > (non-primary-key) columns only for individual rows implicitly with > DML-queries (insert/update)?. Is your use case covered in the article above ? Cheers ----------------- Aaron Morton Freelance Developer @aaronmorton http://www.thelastpickle.com On 30/10/2012, at 2:31 AM, Timmy Turner <timm.t...@gmail.com> wrote: > Thank you! That article helps clear up a lot of my confusion about the > changes between CQL 2 and 3, since I was wondering how to > access/manipulate CompositeType/DynamicCompositeType columns through > CQL. > > So does this mean that in CQL 3 an explicit schema is absolutely > mandatory? It's now impossible (within CQL) to add new > (non-primary-key) columns only for individual rows implicitly with > DML-queries (insert/update)?. > > > > > 2012/10/29 Sylvain Lebresne <sylv...@datastax.com>: >> CQL3 does absolutely allow dynamic column families, but does it >> differently from CQL2. See >> http://www.datastax.com/dev/blog/cql3-for-cassandra-experts. >> >> -- >> Sylvain >> >> On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Timmy Turner <timm.t...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Does CQL3 not allow dynamic columns (column names) any more?