IBM’s New Java Resource Enhances Developer Community
Search Engine Crawls the Web To Deliver Targeted Java Information
SAN FRANCISCO (March 24, 1998) – Today IBM announced jCentral, the Internet’s most comprehensive search engine for Java developers to locate and share information like Java** source code, applets, JavaBeans**, newsgroup articles, FAQs and tutorials.
The targeted information jCentral delivers helps programmers speed up development cycles, improve time to market, and expand networking and marketplace opportunities by leveraging the resources of the online Java community. Developed at IBM Research, jCentral is a new feature on IBM’s Java Web site, http://www.ibm.com/java, and goes live today at the JavaOne** Worldwide Developer Conference.
Written primarily in Java, jCentral consists of a Web crawler, search engine and database tool that currently contains more than 100,000 distinct pieces of Java information. In addition to searching for Java information in categories including Java applets, JavaBeans, Java source code and newsgroup articles, developers can identify specific information on attributes such as Events, Properties, Methods, Strings, Java Class Usage, etc. jCentral’s predefined search parameters and Java-specific indexing let developers quickly locate exactly the Java code resources needed.
“I see jCentral becoming a primary Java research tool on the Web,” said Rick Loek, president and founder of the Silicon Valley Java Users Group. “It’s a great learning tool, because it not only helps developers locate Java resources, but also provides more detailed information than any other tool on the Web. Ultimately this will help Java developers produce better software, with faster delivery into the market.”
“Because jCentral provides a detailed analysis of Java resources found on the Internet, developers can search for exactly the type of information needed, whether that’s a Java applet that plays chess, a JavaBean with a particular Method or Event, or a calendar Bean with database connectivity,” said Qi Lu, jCentral project leader, IBM Research. “jCentral helps developers clear the hurdles they face in day-to-day development projects, for highly-productive Java development.”
jCentral Technology
Developed in IBM’s Almaden Research Center, jCentral automatically crawls the Internet, analyzes the Java resources it finds and then organizes them into the categories most useful for developers. If jCentral cannot immediately locate Java data for a specific user query, it will continue to look for the information and notify the user as soon as the information is found. Using this service, developers can also submit a profile of their interests. As appropriate resources are located on the Internet, these users will receive e-mail notification. Developers can also submit Java resources of their own.
Source: IBM