You are choosing to use a schema-less, dynamically typed representation (where a strongly typed alternative is directly available). I'd say, the convenience of

You are choosing to use a schema-less, dynamically typed representation (where a strongly typed alternative is directly available). I'd say, the convenience of being able to just say I am going to assume this is an int is fitting. If you wanted to be forced to error check (which needs an if-then in most languages), you might as well use the schema based, strongly typed version of the system instead, which would guarantee correct types for you, and requires no error checking.