Doing the best internet searches: Tips and Tricks wanted.

Question

Someone asked a question, what was the most important bookmark for a Developer, and it got me thinking. I personally answered Google of course. I have felt for the longest time that Google is the most indispensible tool for the developer as you can literally find anything you need by using well formed searches. Which brings me to my question:

I would like to get some feedback from everyone on what tips and tricks they use for getting the best possible search results. This is not limited to just google searches. (inlcude links to any other recommended search engines/sites).

I think one of the biggest issues with a lot of people in the IT world is they dont know how to properly utilize search engines and the vast wealth of knowledge on the internet. Lets hear your feedback. I hope to learn a few tricks from you all as well.

EDIT: Just some clarification of things I am looking for. For example, lets say that a person who has never used the internet before is looking to buy a 2008 red mustang convertible in their hometwon. The first thing they might type is 'but mustang'. We all know what that will bring up. After they gain experience, they might start to type 'purchase 2008 mustang in mississauga'. Depending on search engine it will yield different results and perhaps what they want. BUt then they get more experience and might type 'purchase "2008 mustang convertible" red mississauga'. And then as they gain more experience they will use operators, and do things in different ways to yeild better results.

I know lots of people who search for something specific but only type a single word and start browsing hundreds of pages.

I am a firm beleiver that one of the MOST important skills for anyone in IT, especially Technical Support, is the ability to a search engine.

So what ways do you search to yield the best possible results. Give examples. What operators do you use, in what placement, etc?

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Suggestions Given:

1. Google's list of tips & tricks - AMD Fan
2. Gooogle's code search - Morton
3. Allplus - Mecki
4. http://www.searchdotnet.com/ - VanSkalen
5. fileType: Serach terms here - Gastoni
6. Site searching and Google Custom Serach engine - Tim Farley

Answer 1

Honestly I do not believe that there is a better tool than Google. No other tool, that I am aware of, retrieves so much information about what I am looking for and as fast as Google does it.

Answer 2

[search terms go here] -expertsexchange

Answer 3

Google's list of tips & tricks is always good to read over.

My most-used operators are the * (when you don't know a word in a phrase) + (to emphasize a word in the search), - (to remove results), and site: keywords.

Answer 4

Gooogle's code search is great for finding examples of code (remember to use advanced search to specify the language). I mostly use it to find implementations for classic types such as 3DVector as was recently the case. It is also a great site for looking at and learning different languages.

Answer 5

I personally use Allplus.

Yes, it is slow! But the results are good. If I have to run only one search to get the best results already on page 1, instead of having to browse through 7 pages to get to the first relevant page; waiting a couple of seconds is still the faster option compared to reading 7 pages. Also it caches results and it uses Ajax to replace contents without always doing a full page reload.

It is a meta search, it gets results from Ask, Google, Live, and Yahoo, merges equal results into a single one, groups merged results by tag words (making it easy to further limit your search to relevant stuff quickly) and it allows you to run a search within the results of your last search. Further it will also search for blogs, images, news and videos and show the most relevant hits to the right.

Answer 6

My second check search to google is http://www.searchdotnet.com/ - it isn't perfect but is more focused.

Answer 7

When looking for a specific kind of file, e.x. torrents.

torrent: what ever you are looking for

Answer 8

If you find yourself using "-site:" (or "+site:" for that matter) to filter your results from Google, consider setting up a Google Custom Search engine that pre-filters the results for you. You can set one up in minutes under your Google account, and it can be for your own use or you can publish it for others. I've been working with this API for about a year now on some projects, and its an incredible resource and not as well known as it should be.

VanSkalen's answer (http://www.searchdotnet.com/) is actually built using this API, so its a good example of what can be accomplished.

Answer 9

One trick I don't see above is to imagine in what context you are going to find your answer, and then include search terms that aren't what you're looking for but that show you've found the right kind of page. Here's an example I did recently not from programming: to write an exam question (how much memory do you need to...), I wanted to know the number of licensed drivers in Massachusetts. Well, Googling licensed driver Massachusetts was an exercise in futility. But when I realized I might find the answer on a page that lists the number of licensed drivers in all states, it was easy: I Googled licensed drivers Massachusetts Alabama Wyoming and quickly found the information I wanted.

So, imagine what information will be on the page that contains the answer and include extra search terms to narrow to that page.

Answer 10

1. When I'm trying to understand some portion of code, usually, I do use double quoting for searching some examples: "something * unknownFunction(param1, param2"

   That works because, in several instances, people use a similar way to name things, and when they publish their solutions, oneself can grab a more complete picture of what they are intending to do and how they are implementing that.

2. The use of site:somedomain had been extremely useful to me, because I can perform some kind of vertical search in any given site (which I consider the most authoritative source of the language/framework/etc).

3. I recommend site:edu, for searching info on academic sites. It is another excellent source for examples and explanations on algorithms and programming related.

4. And, of course: -site:experts-exchange.com

Answer 11

With risk to get minuses ... Simply

Use Google site search + StackOverflow or try also simple StackOverflow search ; )