WWW: Beyond the Basics

15. Searching and Databases on the Web

by Aixiang (I Song) Yao

ABSTRACT

The search system is closely related to the database. Essentially all search services are variations of database searches. This is because that the most important feature about a database is the capability of searching information. On the other hand, search system for the World Wide Web would likely consist of four functional modules: gatherer, indexer, search, and retrieval.

This chapter discusses each of the four functional modules of search system in detail. This would help us to understand the fundamental principle behind the search systems. Moreover it introduces several popular search systems for the World Wide Web, and discusses about how to select a search system.

CHAPTER CONTENT

  1. Introduction
  2. Gatherer
    1. Breath first
    2. Depth first
  3. Indexer
    1. Primary index
    2. Inverted index
    3. Fulltext index
  4. Search
    1. Search language
      1. Keyword matching
      2. Boolean search
    2. Search engine
      1. WAIS
  5. Retrieval
    1. Direct retrieval
    2. Client-server retrieval
  6. How to Select a Search System ?
    1. Search systems for the Web
    2. Discussions and remarks

    References

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Copyright © 1996 Aixiang (I Song) Yao, All Rights Reserved

Aixiang (I Song) Yao<ayao@csgrad.cs.vt.edu>
Last modified: November 20, 1996