diff --git a/sqlite3.go b/sqlite3.go
index ff29d79..58bdab1 100644
--- a/sqlite3.go
+++ b/sqlite3.go
@@ -173,6 +173,12 @@ var SQLiteTimestampFormats = []string{
 	"2006-01-02",
 }
 
+const (
+	columnDate      string = "date"
+	columnDatetime  string = "datetime"
+	columnTimestamp string = "timestamp"
+)
+
 func init() {
 	sql.Register("sqlite3", &SQLiteDriver{})
 }
@@ -392,7 +398,7 @@ func (c *SQLiteConn) RegisterCommitHook(callback func() int) {
 	if callback == nil {
 		C.sqlite3_commit_hook(c.db, nil, nil)
 	} else {
-		C.sqlite3_commit_hook(c.db, (*[0]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(C.commitHookTrampoline)), unsafe.Pointer(newHandle(c, callback)))
+		C.sqlite3_commit_hook(c.db, (*[0]byte)(C.commitHookTrampoline), unsafe.Pointer(newHandle(c, callback)))
 	}
 }
 
@@ -405,7 +411,7 @@ func (c *SQLiteConn) RegisterRollbackHook(callback func()) {
 	if callback == nil {
 		C.sqlite3_rollback_hook(c.db, nil, nil)
 	} else {
-		C.sqlite3_rollback_hook(c.db, (*[0]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(C.rollbackHookTrampoline)), unsafe.Pointer(newHandle(c, callback)))
+		C.sqlite3_rollback_hook(c.db, (*[0]byte)(C.rollbackHookTrampoline), unsafe.Pointer(newHandle(c, callback)))
 	}
 }
 
@@ -422,7 +428,7 @@ func (c *SQLiteConn) RegisterUpdateHook(callback func(int, string, string, int64
 	if callback == nil {
 		C.sqlite3_update_hook(c.db, nil, nil)
 	} else {
-		C.sqlite3_update_hook(c.db, (*[0]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(C.updateHookTrampoline)), unsafe.Pointer(newHandle(c, callback)))
+		C.sqlite3_update_hook(c.db, (*[0]byte)(C.updateHookTrampoline), unsafe.Pointer(newHandle(c, callback)))
 	}
 }
 
@@ -504,7 +510,7 @@ func (c *SQLiteConn) RegisterFunc(name string, impl interface{}, pure bool) erro
 }
 
 func sqlite3CreateFunction(db *C.sqlite3, zFunctionName *C.char, nArg C.int, eTextRep C.int, pApp uintptr, xFunc unsafe.Pointer, xStep unsafe.Pointer, xFinal unsafe.Pointer) C.int {
-	return C._sqlite3_create_function(db, zFunctionName, nArg, eTextRep, C.uintptr_t(pApp), (*[0]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(xFunc)), (*[0]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(xStep)), (*[0]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(xFinal)))
+	return C._sqlite3_create_function(db, zFunctionName, nArg, eTextRep, C.uintptr_t(pApp), (*[0]byte)(xFunc), (*[0]byte)(xStep), (*[0]byte)(xFinal))
 }
 
 // RegisterAggregator makes a Go type available as a SQLite aggregation function.
@@ -1073,7 +1079,7 @@ func (s *SQLiteStmt) bind(args []namedValue) error {
 		case int64:
 			rv = C.sqlite3_bind_int64(s.s, n, C.sqlite3_int64(v))
 		case bool:
-			if bool(v) {
+			if v {
 				rv = C.sqlite3_bind_int(s.s, n, 1)
 			} else {
 				rv = C.sqlite3_bind_int(s.s, n, 0)
@@ -1279,7 +1285,7 @@ func (rc *SQLiteRows) Next(dest []driver.Value) error {
 		case C.SQLITE_INTEGER:
 			val := int64(C.sqlite3_column_int64(rc.s.s, C.int(i)))
 			switch rc.decltype[i] {
-			case "timestamp", "datetime", "date":
+			case columnTimestamp, columnDatetime, columnDate:
 				var t time.Time
 				// Assume a millisecond unix timestamp if it's 13 digits -- too
 				// large to be a reasonable timestamp in seconds.
@@ -1310,10 +1316,10 @@ func (rc *SQLiteRows) Next(dest []driver.Value) error {
 			n := int(C.sqlite3_column_bytes(rc.s.s, C.int(i)))
 			switch dest[i].(type) {
 			case sql.RawBytes:
-				dest[i] = (*[1 << 30]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p))[0:n]
+				dest[i] = (*[1 << 30]byte)(p)[0:n]
 			default:
 				slice := make([]byte, n)
-				copy(slice[:], (*[1 << 30]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p))[0:n])
+				copy(slice[:], (*[1 << 30]byte)(p)[0:n])
 				dest[i] = slice
 			}
 		case C.SQLITE_NULL:
@@ -1326,7 +1332,7 @@ func (rc *SQLiteRows) Next(dest []driver.Value) error {
 			s := C.GoStringN((*C.char)(unsafe.Pointer(C.sqlite3_column_text(rc.s.s, C.int(i)))), C.int(n))
 
 			switch rc.decltype[i] {
-			case "timestamp", "datetime", "date":
+			case columnTimestamp, columnDatetime, columnDate:
 				var t time.Time
 				s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, "Z")
 				for _, format := range SQLiteTimestampFormats {
diff --git a/sqlite3_test.go b/sqlite3_test.go
index 84ecb5a..782f57c 100644
--- a/sqlite3_test.go
+++ b/sqlite3_test.go
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ func TestBoolean(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected 1 row but %v", counter)
 	}
 
-	if id != 1 && fbool != true {
+	if id != 1 && !fbool {
 		t.Fatalf("Value for id 1 should be %v, not %v", bool1, fbool)
 	}
 
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ func TestBoolean(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected 1 row but %v", counter)
 	}
 
-	if id != 2 && fbool != false {
+	if id != 2 && fbool {
 		t.Fatalf("Value for id 2 should be %v, not %v", bool2, fbool)
 	}
 
@@ -1591,10 +1591,7 @@ func BenchmarkCustomFunctions(b *testing.B) {
 		sql.Register("sqlite3_BenchmarkCustomFunctions", &SQLiteDriver{
 			ConnectHook: func(conn *SQLiteConn) error {
 				// Impure function to force sqlite to reexecute it each time.
-				if err := conn.RegisterFunc("custom_add", customAdd, false); err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-				return nil
+				return conn.RegisterFunc("custom_add", customAdd, false)
 			},
 		})
 	})
@@ -1701,7 +1698,7 @@ func (db *TestDB) tearDown() {
 // q replaces ? parameters if needed
 func (db *TestDB) q(sql string) string {
 	switch db.dialect {
-	case POSTGRESQL: // repace with $1, $2, ..
+	case POSTGRESQL: // replace with $1, $2, ..
 		qrx := regexp.MustCompile(`\?`)
 		n := 0
 		return qrx.ReplaceAllStringFunc(sql, func(string) string {