diff --git a/example/sqlite.js b/example/sqlite.js
index 051d6d93..f0e816b3 100644
--- a/example/sqlite.js
+++ b/example/sqlite.js
@@ -1,62 +1,90 @@
-var ffi    = require('../')
-  , fs     = require('fs')
-  , ref    = require('ref')
-  , assert = require('assert')
-  , dbName = 'test.sqlite3'
 
+/**
+ * Module dependencies.
+ */
+
+var fs = require('fs')
+  , ref = require('ref')
+  , ffi = require('../')
+
+/**
+ * The filename of the sqlite3 database to use.
+ */
+
+var dbName = process.argv[2] || 'test.sqlite3'
+
+/**
+ * "ref" types that the sqlite3 functions will use.
+ */
+
+var sqlite3 = 'void' // `sqlite3` is an "opaque" type, so we don't know its layout
+  , sqlite3Ptr = ref.refType(sqlite3)
+  , sqlite3PtrPtr = ref.refType(sqlite3Ptr)
+  , sqlite3_exec_callback = 'pointer' // TODO: use ffi.Callback when #76 is implemented
+  , stringPtr = ref.refType('string')
+
+// create FFI'd versions of the libsqlite3 function we're interested in
 var SQLite3 = ffi.Library('libsqlite3', {
-  'sqlite3_open': [ 'int32', [ 'string', 'pointer' ] ],
-  'sqlite3_close': [ 'int32', [ 'pointer' ] ],
-  'sqlite3_changes': [ 'int32', [ 'pointer' ]],
-  'sqlite3_exec': [ 'int32', [ 'pointer', 'string', 'pointer', 'pointer', 'pointer' ] ],
+  'sqlite3_libversion': [ 'string', [ ] ],
+  'sqlite3_open': [ 'int', [ 'string', sqlite3PtrPtr ] ],
+  'sqlite3_close': [ 'int', [ sqlite3Ptr ] ],
+  'sqlite3_changes': [ 'int', [ sqlite3Ptr ]],
+  'sqlite3_exec': [ 'int', [ sqlite3Ptr, 'string', sqlite3_exec_callback, 'void *', stringPtr ] ],
 })
 
+// print out the "libsqlite3" version number
+console.log('Using libsqlite3 version %j...', SQLite3.sqlite3_libversion())
+
 // create a storage area for the db pointer SQLite3 gives us
-var db = new Buffer(ref.sizeof.pointer)
+var db = ref.alloc(sqlite3PtrPtr)
 
-console.log('Opening ' + dbName + '...')
+// open the database object
+console.log('Opening %j...', dbName)
 SQLite3.sqlite3_open(dbName, db)
-var dbh = db.readPointer() // we have to extract the pointer as it's an output param
 
-console.log('Creating and/or clearing foo table...')
+// we don't care about the `sqlite **`, but rather the `sqlite *` that it's
+// pointing to, so we must deref()
+db = db.deref()
 
-SQLite3.sqlite3_exec(dbh, 'CREATE TABLE foo (bar VARCHAR);', null, null, null)
-SQLite3.sqlite3_exec(dbh, 'DELETE FROM foo;', null, null, null)
+// execute a couple SQL queries to create the table "foo" and ensure it's empty
+console.log('Creating and/or clearing foo table...')
+SQLite3.sqlite3_exec(db, 'CREATE TABLE foo (bar VARCHAR);', null, null, null)
+SQLite3.sqlite3_exec(db, 'DELETE FROM foo;', null, null, null)
 
+// execute a few INSERT queries into the "foo" table
 console.log('Inserting bar 5 times...')
-
 for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
-  SQLite3.sqlite3_exec(dbh, 'INSERT INTO foo VALUES(\'baz' + i + '\');', null, null, null)
+  SQLite3.sqlite3_exec(db, 'INSERT INTO foo VALUES(\'baz' + i + '\');', null, null, null)
 }
 
+// we can also run queries asynchronously on the thread pool. this is good for
+// when you expect a query to take a long time. when running SELECT queries, you
+// pass a callback function that gets invoked for each record found. since we're
+// running asynchronously, you pass a second callback function that will be
+// invoked when the query has completed.
 var rowCount = 0
-var callback = ffi.Callback('int32', ['pointer', 'int32', 'pointer', 'pointer'], function(tmp, cols, argv, colv) {
+var callback = ffi.Callback('int', ['void *', 'int', stringPtr, stringPtr], function (tmp, cols, argv, colv) {
   var obj = {}
 
   for (var i = 0; i < cols; i++) {
-    var colName = colv.readPointer().readCString()
-    var colData = argv.readPointer().readCString()
+    var colName = colv.deref()
+    var colData = argv.deref()
     obj[colName] = colData
   }
 
-  console.log('Row: ' + JSON.stringify(obj))
+  console.log('Row: %j', obj)
   rowCount++
 
   return 0
 })
 
-var fin = false
-
-SQLite3.sqlite3_exec.async(dbh, 'SELECT * FROM foo;', callback, null, null, function(err, ret) {
+var b = new Buffer('test')
+SQLite3.sqlite3_exec.async(db, 'SELECT * FROM foo;', callback, b, null, function (err, ret) {
   if (err) throw err
-  console.log('Total Rows: ' + rowCount)
-  console.log('Changes: ' + SQLite3.sqlite3_changes(dbh))
+  console.log('Total Rows: %j', rowCount)
+  console.log('Changes: %j', SQLite3.sqlite3_changes(db))
   console.log('Closing...')
-  SQLite3.sqlite3_close(dbh)
+  SQLite3.sqlite3_close(db)
   fs.unlinkSync(dbName)
   fin = true
 })
-
-process.on('exit', function () {
-  assert(fin)
-})