CAST: when converting a string to binary, it is hex encoded (every byte two characters); a hex string can be converted to a number by first converting it to binary.

It is now allowed to truncate a table if referential integrity has been disabled for this table or database.

Support for null-safe equals. This includes the ANSI SQL standard syntax A IS [NOT] DISTINCT FROM B as well as the shorter A IS [NOT] B.

CREATE VIEW now supports the OR REPLACE clause

The BOM (the byte-order-mark) character 0xfeff at the beginning of the file is ignored. This is for compatibility with Microsoft Excel.