Spring returns a BigDecimal for an Integer RDBMS Column

[Graeme Byers]

Spring returns a BigDecimal for an Integer RDBMS Column
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"Spring Recipes (covers Spring 3)" page 599 uses a Derby table named
Vehicle with a column : WHEEL INT.

On page 615 the JDBC method

<List><Map><String,Object>> queryForList (String sql)

is used with "SELECT * FROM VEHICLE" and within the iteration of the list of maps
there is this line :

vehicle.setWheel ((Integer) row.get("WHEEL")) ;

All the above looks fine to me - a java.lang.Integer is returned.

But when I try using Oracle XE 11.2.0 table EMP column EMPNO NUMBER(4) a BigDecimal is returned.
(In oracle NUMBER allows both a precision and a scale).

What exactly is going on ? Thank you for any help.