#text retrieval software
6 messages in this thread
There is a project afoot to develop something called "SFQL" or Standard
Full-text Query Language. The principal investigator is Dr. Neil Shapiro,
Scilab, Inc., 1921 Hexam Rd., Schenectady, NY 12309 Phone/FAX
518-393-1526. According to an article in CD Publisher News (6:1,
March-April 91), this system should make retreival of full-text independent
of user interfaces. In fact, according to the article, "the user can select
the interface that meets his or her needs, and that user interface will
work with all discs containing SFQL-compliant servers."
I have a demo of the work-in-progress, but unfortunately it was written
with Windows 2.0, and I haven't been able to get it to work with 3.0. The
demo and about an inch thick pile of articles & papers was sent to me when
I send Dr. Shapiro $10. I can't remember where I first read about it,
though. It is very interesting, and I plan to follow up on the subject to
write about it for Nautilus, as part of my on-going series on data
structures for hypermedia publishing.
Another possibility, if you have a lot of short, reasonably similar items
is Lotus' Bluefish dbms for CDs. That's what Computer Select uses, and it
is really fast and easy for the end-user.
Thanks for the info. I will try to contact Dr. Shapiro to get a demo. This
sounds interesting even if not of immediate use.
Henry,
Neil is a CompuServe member, and has shown up here from time to time. His
ID is 71161,3114. I'd suggest sending email: I haven't seen him here
lately.
(Now I don't feel so bad about having put off cleaning out my CDROM.MSG
file…)
Ran
Yes, I thought it was interesting, even in prototype. I'm really chagrined
that the demo didn't work for me — possibly something in my setup,
although the error messages indicate it's the wrong version of Windows.
I've got to call Dr. Shapiro when I get back next week.
Glad to help!
Kathy
Katherine,
Could you give a contact for CD Publisher News? As a CD publisher<g>
it sounds like something we'd like to see.
Thanks,
Frank.
PS. Does your last paragraph mean that there's a new issue of Magazine Rack
out? The copy we got from DAK last summer used Folio.
F.
Frank,
I don't have an address for CD Publisher News, unfortunately — I only have
a reprint from Dr. Shapiro. However, the masthead calls it "Meridian
Data's Newsletter on CD-ROM Publishing" so that's probably a good place to
start. Good luck.
No, I wasn't referring to Magazine Rack — I meant Ziff Publishing's
Computer Select/Computer Library. It is updated monthly, and a very
worthwhile resource for people who need to know about computer industry
stuff.