We use boost::any to convert to and from database values (stored in
serlialized form) and native C++ values. boost::any captures information
about the data type (how to copy/move/delete etc.) and stores it inside
the boost::any instance. We later retrieve the real value using
boost::any_cast.
However, data_value (which has a boost::any member) already has type
information as a data_type instance. By teaching data_type intances about
the corresponding native type, we can elimiante the use of boost::any.
While boost::any is evil and eliminating it improves efficiency somewhat,
the real goal is growing native type support in data_type. We will use that
later to store native types in the cache, enabling O(log n) access to
collections, O(1) access to tuples, and more efficient large blob support.