William Brewer

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William Brewer
William Brewer is a SQL Server developer who has worked as a Database consultant and Business Analyst for several Financial Services organisations in the City of London. True to his name, he is also an expert on real ale.

JSON and other data serialization languages

by William Brewer | 18 July 2008 |

4 comments |

The easiest way to speed up an Ajax application is to take out the 'X' and use JSON rather than XML. Of course, it isn't that simple, as William Brewer explains, but JSON, and YAML, are fascinating solutions to the old problem of transferring complex data between... Read more...

SQL Code Layout and Beautification

by William Brewer | 11 May 2008 |

30 comments |

William Brewer takes a look at the whole topic of SQL Code layout and beautification, an important aspect to SQL programming style. He concludes that once you are tired of laying SQL out by hand, you had better choose a tool with plenty of knobs to twiddle, because... Read more...

SQLTAC A workhorse for database chores

by William Brewer | 03 February 2008 |

2 comments |

In which William Brewer, our software reviewer, goes through the spectrum of emotions whilst using SQLTAC until deciding that, quirks and all, it is very useful. He ends up feeling that the world of Software Tools will be enriched by this maverick offering, one... Read more...

Audit Crosschecks

by William Brewer | 24 January 2008 |

In this short article, the second of a 2-part series, William suggests a solution, using SQL Data Compare 6.1, for providing an independent cross-check of database transactions to determine whether they have been retrospectively altered. Read more...

Top HAT

by William Brewer | 13 November 2007 |

6 comments |

If there is one thing that developers and users always seem to disagree on, it is the relative importance of documentation. We take a look at the whole technology of producing Help and Documentation for tools and applications, and then review one particular product;... Read more...

The Science of Compliance

by William Brewer | 02 October 2007 |

5 comments |

'William Brewer takes a look at what is involved with IT 'Compliance', and discusses what SOX compliance means for the DBA and IT Application developer.' Read more...

Quantifying Text differences in TSQL

by William Brewer | 20 September 2007 |

3 comments |

In TSQL there is a limit to the way you can compare text strings. They're either equal or not. Sooner or later, usually when cleaning data, something more subtle is required! Read more...

SQL Server Endpoints: Soup to Nuts

by William Brewer | 06 July 2007 |

6 comments |

SQL Server Endpoints are database objects that define the ways and means that SQL Server 2005 communicates on the network. Any DBA working with SQL Server 2005 will soon need to become familiar with them, particularly if using SOAP, Service Broker or Database Mirroring. Read more...

Using SQL Backup

by William Brewer | 20 June 2007 |

10 comments |

William Brewer describes the role of SQL Backup in an enterprise SQL Server maintenance plan. Read more...

Database High-Availability: Soup to Nuts

by William Brewer | 31 May 2007 |

William Brewer argues that, although there are technologies around that will minimise downtime in most circumstances, they are only part of the solution. At the heart of every robust system, there is planning, documentation, scripting, testing and drill. Read more...

Falling off the Web Log

by William Brewer | 18 January 2007 |

1 comment |

Getting statistics out of website usage isn't a real problem. There are many ways to do it and plenty commercial packages that provide a 'turnkey' solution. The real problem is getting your hands on those elusive, meaningful statistics that will give you true... Read more...

Towards the Self-Documenting SQL Server Database

by William Brewer | 01 December 2006 |

7 comments |

William Brewer investigates an unsung hero in SQL Server, extended properties, and shows how to use them to create self-documenting SQL Server databases. Read more...

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