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We don't want to fix the columns definition when creating a column family, as we might have to insert new columns into the column family. Is it possible to achieve it? I am wondering whether it is possible to not to define the column metadata when creating a column family, but to specify the column when client updates data, for example:

CREATE COLUMN FAMILY products WITH default_validation_class= UTF8Type AND key_validation_class=UTF8Type AND comparator=UTF8Type; set products['1001']['brand']= ‘Sony’;

Thanks, Fan

user1134905
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Yes... it is possible to achieve this, without even taking any special effort. Per the DataStax documentation of the Cassandra data model (a good read, by the way, along with the CQL spec):

The Cassandra data model is a schema-optional, column-oriented data model. This means that, unlike a relational database, you do not need to model all of the columns required by your application up front, as each row is not required to have the same set of columns. Columns and their metadata can be added by your application as they are needed without incurring downtime to your application.