Google is introducing a new search service
The Web search leader said late on Wednesday it is introducing Google Code Search, a site that simplifies how software developers search for programming code to improve existing software or create new programs.
Google product manager Tom Stocky said the Mountain View, California-based company is set to help programmers sift through billions of lines of computer source code using its familiar search box to uncover snippets of reusable software.
"For a long time it has been sort of an unsolved problem," said Stocky, a product manager in the developer products group. "It is hard to find references to this sort of data."
Google is applying the same machine-driven techniques it uses to help consumers search the Web for text, images, video and books to help professional programmers as well as computer enthusiasts overcome stumbling blocks to writing code.
Searchers can seek out specific programming terms or computer languages and dive deep into compressed code to locate specific features. Users also can narrow a search to find software code based on specific licensing requirements, which is a big deal in warding off future patent litigation.
Similar to how a consumer might type a few words into a standard Google search box for answers, programmers can seek out relevant lines of code at http://google.com/codesearch -- except the results are for machine-readable phrases such as "System.out.println"
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