Search

Topic started by TFM Group (@ envy.cs.umass.edu) on Wed Apr 8 23:18:59 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

We have implemented a simple seach engine to make it easier for users to find desired topics. The search supports simple AND-ing and OR-ing of keywords. Also you can specify phrases by putting them in quotes. The seach may be made case-sensitive or insensitive.
If you are not sure about the spelling we suggest that you use all variants of it and match using OR. e.g. ilayaraja illayaraja ilayaraaja and then use the OR option in the box. :-). (P.S. Don't try to search for Ilayaraja or any variants of it alone. You will probably retrieve every thread :-)

Responses:

• From: TFM Group (@ envy.cs.umass.edu) on: Wed Apr 8 23:20:29 EDT 1998
  
  Oh I forgot to mention - this searches active as well as archived threads.
  Do give us your feedback.
  
  
• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Wed Apr 8 23:53:58 EDT 1998
  
  Rajaraman & Ravi:
  
  Excellent. That is a very useful addition. I just
  tried it. I remembered a discussion between
  Manisekaran and Bones, had forgotten which thread
  it was in; so gave the keywords, Manisekaran
  and Bones. It gave 7 hits and I could
  quickly browse them and find out what I wanted.
  It took one and a quarter minute to get the
  search hits (perhaps the connection from my
  machine is too slow today). How much time does it take
  to do the search on the TFMPage server? Also,
  how do you do the search: by going through all
  docs each time a serach is given, OR do you
  maintain a database of ALL keywords versus docs
  as the search engines do?
  
  Do you plan to include the NOT For example, I may want to try IR present,
  but Rahman absent. (This is just an example;
  the fact that you will get zero hits for this
  query is a different issue. :-)))
  
  One more addition that could be very useful:
  specifying time frames. Let's say I didn't
  visit the forum since March 25th. I would like
  to ask: list all topics which talked about IR after
  March 25th 1998. Since the dates are attached to
  the postings, I guess this is easy to add. I
  don't know what others think about this additional
  capability: whether it is going to be really
  useful or not.
  
  Again let me repeat: thanks for including the
  search capability! Wonderful effort!
  
  
• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Wed Apr 8 23:55:41 EDT 1998
  
  closing bold face.
  
  
• From: Rajaraman (@ 192.122.135.224) on: Thu Apr 9 03:36:46 EDT 1998
  
  Sathiya Keerthi,
  
  At present, it's a simple search-all-files algorithm. So obviously it'll be very slow. Maybe in a later version we'll maintain an index and search using it. But you'll find even the current version a lot useful.
  
  
• From: NOV (@ 202.184.134.10) on: Thu Apr 9 03:42:20 EDT 1998
  
  Ravi & Rajaraman - Another feather in your cap! Good showing guys.
  
  Yelloarum maathiri IR, ARR, TMS yendru poadaamal, vithyasamaa NOV endru poattu paarthein. :-))
  Ammadiyoa! 441 subjects vanthiruchu, each with many sub-categories! Unmaiyiley bayanthuttein.
  Ithu bs-kku therinthu vittaal, avar udaney oru statistics report seithuviduvaar. I think I better control my postings. :-))
  
  
• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Thu Apr 9 04:43:59 EDT 1998
  
  NOV:
  
  I am shocked! Moththam about 800 topics irukku;
  adhil 441-il mattum thaan unga contribution-aa?
  Indru varai NOV = Forum endrallavaa naan
  ninaiththirundhEn? Ippaththaan theriyudhu NOV =
  Only about half the forum endru! :-))
  
  
• From: badri raghavan (@ 206.103.12.125) on: Fri Apr 17 00:53:04 EDT 1998
  
  a valuable contribution to surfing
  
  

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