C# Search: The .NET developer search engine
As a software developer, you’ve probably heard on more than one occasion that "Google is your friend" when it comes down to searching for a solution to a problem, an algorithm, a tool, etc. As a .NET developer, I cherish very much my friendship with Google’s powerful search engine. It’s true that I love working with .NET, but sometimes trying to search for a specific thing for it on Google can seem like a daunting task when millions of search results are generated. Unless you’ve mastered the power of the Google search engine, trying to find exactly what you need is pretty much like trying to look for a needle in a haystack. And until Google’s search intelligence evolves to a state that it’ll know exactly what we’re thinking, we might as well know how to properly and easily search for things, especially when it comes down to .NET development. And you know what? There’s a new site that offers a better and easier way to search for .NET related material. And you know what else? It’s powered by Google’s search engine and filters.
A former co-worker of mine, David Hervieux, was kind enough to use his time and smarts to put together the best .NET-oriented search site powered by Google: C# Search, also known as "The .NET developer search engine". This search engine is really revolutionary because it helps us to narrow our .NET related search through well-defined sources: sites (like CodeProject, MSDN, DotNetSlackers, etc.), newsgroups, forums, etc. (take a look at the picture on right). And with the power of Google behind it, you can expect the search results to not only be precise, but super fast! If you’re accustomed with using SearchDotNet, you can think of C# Search as being version 2.0 of SearchDotNet.
A neat thing about this customized search engine is that when you choose the "Everywhere" item as the source, the search will be done in the same way as if you were performing a regular search on Google. So what does this means? Well, first of all, it means that you can set C# Search as your homepage if you’ve already set Google as your homepage since you’ll get the same functionality and more. Second of all, it means that you can use C# Search as the default search page within Visual Studio. To do this, follow these simple instructions:
- Launch Visual Studio
- Go to Tools -> Options
- Expand the Environment node, then click on Web Browser
- Under the Search page replace whatever link is there for "http://csharpsearch.com/default.aspx "
- Press on the OK buton
The image below shows you the end result.
Firefox and Internet Explorer users can be more productive with C# Search by installing the search toolbars, as shown in the images below.
Mmmmm…..I’m lovin’ it!
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August 6, 2008, 8:09 amPaul Kinlan:
I thought that this was going to be a search engine like koders.com.
Also it doesn’t work that well either, I did a search for “test” against all .Net sites and the first two results were speedtest.net and test.com which are nothing to do with .net, it would be good if we could see a list of all the .Net sites that it includes (if it is not already there and I haven’t missed it)
August 7, 2008, 6:54 amBrian Di Croce:
Paul, you should probably try to be more specific with your search criteria. I also searched for ‘test’ against all .NET sites, and you’re right; the first two links didn’t gave me anything relevant, but the other links were pretty much relevant to me. Like I said, C# Search is powered by Google’s search engine and the best way to get accurate results is to refine your search criteria. What kind of testing were you looking for? Usability testing, software testing, black-box testing, white-box testing, TDD, hardware testing, certification testing, etc?
As I wrote in the post, “until Google’s search intelligence evolves to a state that it’ll know exactly what we’re thinking, we might as well know how to properly and easily search for things, especially when it comes down to .NET development.”
August 7, 2008, 7:03 amPaul Kinlan:
The custom search functionality that is available through google (http://www.google.com/coop/cse/examples/GooglePicks - all these site use a selection of topic specific sites) allows you to specify a complete list of all sites you want to search, I thought that this search engine has a pre-filtered list of all .net realted sites, which is why I am surprised to see test.com in the results.
August 7, 2008, 7:47 amPaul Kinlan:
also, I think the idea of a vertical search engine just for .net is an excellent idea, just that this didn’t do what I thought it might.
August 7, 2008, 7:48 amPaul Kinlan:
Also, my custom search engine does the same as this one…..
August 7, 2008, 7:52 amPaul Kinlan:
Sorry, not spamming you!. If you select “Search only included sites.” in google coop, then it won’t include sites that aren’t in the list. That is the mistake I made and the one that I think is on your friends one.
Paul.
August 7, 2008, 7:54 amDavid Hervieux:
Hi Paul,
I wrote this search engine because I don’t like “Search only included sites”, maybe it could be another search type in the combo. I don’t want to limit the search, because sometimes the answer is not in the list. Do you know if http://devolutions.net is in searchdotnet? I have many interesting articles (for example, about serialization) and if someone is looking for that, I’m not sure he will find it.
http://devolutions.net/articles
Web is not limited, why set limits !!!
Thank you
August 7, 2008, 9:24 amBrian Di Croce:
Hey Paul, Thanks for your comments/feedback. No problem, you’re not spamming me at all, on the contrary. I asked David to check your comments…hopefully he’ll give you a more official answer than me. Cheers.
August 7, 2008, 2:42 pmPaul Kinlan:
David, thanks for getting back. You can add a link that is a list of links in google coop so all the links on devoltions.net/articles will get included automatically, rather than doing it manually.
As for searchdotnet you wonder if all of these should be open to adding new links by anyone.
I see your point on why you don’t want to restrict the site list I think it is hard to get a fine balance. Have you looked into the Yahoo BOSS api? you get unlimited number of queries and you could re-implement this using your own code, it is pretty cool. I used it for http://www.topicala.com/topic/Test/Technology/News topic search engine.
Paul.
August 8, 2008, 1:19 amasp.net c# .NET Framework:
ths, good article
August 8, 2008, 1:36 pmRomeo:
Nice find.
And a good idea having that link in VS.
August 9, 2008, 10:11 amWeekly Link Post 54 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog:
[...] Di Croce talks about a new developer search engine in his post C# Search: The .NET developer search engine. Very nice [...]
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment’s server IP (72.232.101.89) doesn’t match the comment’s URL host IP (76.74.254.123) and so is spam.
August 10, 2008, 3:59 pmSudhir Mangla:
Hi I would like to mention another search engine for dot net developers which cover all good sites for dot net and related technologies as of August, 2008.
http://tips.developersvoice.com/devsearch
This developers search engine is inspired by searchdotnet.com and I try my best achieve even batter results. Both these developers search engines would greatly help the developer’s community.
DO test it yourself and let me know your comments.
August 23, 2008, 7:43 amGuf:
thx, good article.
September 4, 2008, 7:58 amNameThatTune:
excellent idea! thanks from russia!
October 23, 2008, 3:04 am