In terms of fundamentals, I'd suggest reading about tf-idf, which is the basis of Lucene (which powers Solr and Elasticsearch).
Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
11–20 of 125 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#12I think Google has pretty much monopolized search. You could say it's solved. I doubt if there are any complaints that sound like 'i couldn't find something using Google'
Regarding always being able to find what you are looking for on Google: I often struggle to find niche information using Google, and most content on the Web is not indexed by Google.
I'm more of the opinion that YouTube is less possible to compete with in any serious way.
Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#13Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#14Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#15I remember reading about this exact topic somewhere but I can't seem to find the link.
Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#16Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#17It depends what you are looking for. I have the hardest time searching for laptops that meet all of the specs I want, for instance. Takes days. Minimum screen brightness. 1440p touch. Needs USB-A. 8th gen quad core. 20+ watt TDP. etc. Not too thin, not too thick. decent graphics.
Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#18Regardless of query length it's strange that I often find the second result better than the first one.
Finding something in Gmail can be a real challenge, I wonder if would be possible to unleash Algolia on your inbox.
Re: Ask HN: Is 'search' a solved problem?
#19And for what good reason? Certainly not because of past attempts. In fact, Google has bought some startups that were involved with search.
I'd be interested in knowing what you find. There are bound to be many relevant texts not labeled as search, if you know what you are looking for. Perhaps I would start with web crawlers and go from there.