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Does anyone actually use the GitHub global code search? I've always found it to be pretty much useless. (compare the results from https://cs.opensource.google/

by q3k 6y ago

Does anyone actually use the GitHub global code search? I've always found it to be pretty much useless. (compare the results from https://cs.opensource.google/ https://cs.opensource.google/ vs. GH search)

jan_Inkepa 6y ago
I use google github global code search all the time looking for example uses of poorly-documented APIs. E.g. if I search for 'haxeflixel' (a game engine) I get nothing on cs.opensource.google, but 532 repos appear on github search.
- q3k 6y ago
  Right, but that's just a quantity thing. The quality, from my experience, is horrible. Once I know which repository I'm interested in, I have much better results cloning the code and grepping for things locally.
  - jan_Inkepa 6y ago
    0 examples of excellent quality are not better than 523 examples of bad quality. Often I don't know what particular repo I'm interested in as a model of good quality overall, I just want to see "where has anyone used function X?". If examples aren't in the library itself, then you have to look for projects that use it, github is the best player in town. It's funny that we have different experiences - I guess I use more niche libraries than you (or am worse at understanding other people's code)? For more mainstream stuff (javascript questions) I can e.g. go straight to MDN. For questions about the Unity game engine I'll often find good examples in their documentation, but for weirdo game engines random projects on github can be a lifesaver.
    - q3k 6y ago
      > It's funny that we have different experiences [...] I guess I use more niche libraries than you I do use quite a few of these, but I tend to just read their source than to use other users as example-driven documentation. If I'm dealing with an niche library I read its source code anyway, just to gauge its quality and anticipate any future issues.
upbeat_general 6y ago
All the time. Finding obscure uses of libraries/APIs or just how certain code snippets are used, or even just repos about a general topic/implementation of a thing. It’s very sensitive and oftentimes doesn’t work well but I’d prefer to spend 30 seconds trying a couple different variations of my search than get no results at all. Google’s open source search is probably better but until they index Github it’s practically useless for me. Github search may be a bad search tool but by nature of having so much code it’s still useful for me.

by q3k 6y ago

jan_Inkepa 6y ago

I use google github global code search all the time looking for example uses of poorly-documented APIs. E.g. if I search for 'haxeflixel' (a game engine) I get nothing on cs.opensource.google, but 532 repos appear on github search.

q3k 6y ago
Right, but that's just a quantity thing. The quality, from my experience, is horrible. Once I know which repository I'm interested in, I have much better results cloning the code and grepping for things locally.
- jan_Inkepa 6y ago
  0 examples of excellent quality are not better than 523 examples of bad quality. Often I don't know what particular repo I'm interested in as a model of good quality overall, I just want to see "where has anyone used function X?". If examples aren't in the library itself, then you have to look for projects that use it, github is the best player in town. It's funny that we have different experiences - I guess I use more niche libraries than you (or am worse at understanding other people's code)? For more mainstream stuff (javascript questions) I can e.g. go straight to MDN. For questions about the Unity game engine I'll often find good examples in their documentation, but for weirdo game engines random projects on github can be a lifesaver.
  - q3k 6y ago
    > It's funny that we have different experiences [...] I guess I use more niche libraries than you I do use quite a few of these, but I tend to just read their source than to use other users as example-driven documentation. If I'm dealing with an niche library I read its source code anyway, just to gauge its quality and anticipate any future issues.

upbeat_general 6y ago

All the time. Finding obscure uses of libraries/APIs or just how certain code snippets are used, or even just repos about a general topic/implementation of a thing. It’s very sensitive and oftentimes doesn’t work well but I’d prefer to spend 30 seconds trying a couple different variations of my search than get no results at all. Google’s open source search is probably better but until they index Github it’s practically useless for me. Github search may be a bad search tool but by nature of having so much code it’s still useful for me.