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What were some real-world situations where you used Google Sets? It always seemed to me like a cool toy without much practical use, and certainly not the most w

by raldi 12y ago

What were some real-world situations where you used Google Sets? It always seemed to me like a cool toy without much practical use, and certainly not the most worthy sink of a good engineer's limited time.

eli 12y ago
Naming servers. Doesn't matter if you use colors, or star trek characters, or nautical terms: plug the existing servers into a set and get a couple new name suggestions.
- raldi 12y ago
  That doesn't work if you plug them into regular web search?
  - tedunangst 12y ago
    Have you tried googling for "kirk spock"? You don't get a list of other star trek characters.
    - dublinben 12y ago
      Searching for "list of star trek characters" will give you a comprehensive result on Wikipedia though. As would many similar searches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_characters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_characters
      - tedunangst 12y ago
        I didn't say it's not possible to find a list of characters. Wikipedia has a list page for everything. But the specific claim was that one could plug set elements into a regular search to find more set elements.
    - raldi 12y ago
      http://google.com/search?q=list+of+star+trek+characters http://google.com/search?q=list+of+star+trek+characters works.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- chrisfarms 12y ago
  This was my only valid use for sets too, I can kind of see why it wasn't a project worth serious time maintaining. I always thought it would eventually be integrated into Google Proper via a comma separated syntax or something. This is my current goto for naming duties: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists
jawns 12y ago
It's been a few years, so my memory is kind of hazy, but I seem to remember using it for things like: * I'm trying to remember the acronym of the professional sports league associated with U.S. soccer. I enter: NHL, NBA, NFL. * I need to think of some consumer brands. I enter: Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson. * I'm trying to brainstorm female baby names based on Old Testament characters. I enter: Eve, Ruth, Naomi, Esther.
tlrobinson 12y ago
Finding similar/competing projects/products.
MarkLowenstein 12y ago
Oh, was that E_NOTIMPL, E_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, E_NOIMPL...? I forgot again. Google sets to the rescue! S_OK, E_FAIL, submit. I did that particular one at least 20 times. I worry that a truly great technology has died with Sets: the way it would correctly intuit the scope of your set. Give it cities in Ohio, it spits out other Ohio cities. But give it London and Tokyo and you get all the major metropolises across the globe. Kudos to those who made it, and I hope they can do it again when applications for it arise.

by raldi 12y ago

eli 12y ago

Naming servers. Doesn't matter if you use colors, or star trek characters, or nautical terms: plug the existing servers into a set and get a couple new name suggestions.

raldi 12y ago
That doesn't work if you plug them into regular web search?
- tedunangst 12y ago
  Have you tried googling for "kirk spock"? You don't get a list of other star trek characters.
  - dublinben 12y ago
    Searching for "list of star trek characters" will give you a comprehensive result on Wikipedia though. As would many similar searches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_characters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_characters
    - tedunangst 12y ago
      I didn't say it's not possible to find a list of characters. Wikipedia has a list page for everything. But the specific claim was that one could plug set elements into a regular search to find more set elements.
  - raldi 12y ago
    http://google.com/search?q=list+of+star+trek+characters http://google.com/search?q=list+of+star+trek+characters works.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
chrisfarms 12y ago
This was my only valid use for sets too, I can kind of see why it wasn't a project worth serious time maintaining. I always thought it would eventually be integrated into Google Proper via a comma separated syntax or something. This is my current goto for naming duties: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists

jawns 12y ago

It's been a few years, so my memory is kind of hazy, but I seem to remember using it for things like: * I'm trying to remember the acronym of the professional sports league associated with U.S. soccer. I enter: NHL, NBA, NFL. * I need to think of some consumer brands. I enter: Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson. * I'm trying to brainstorm female baby names based on Old Testament characters. I enter: Eve, Ruth, Naomi, Esther.

tlrobinson 12y ago

Finding similar/competing projects/products.

MarkLowenstein 12y ago

Oh, was that E_NOTIMPL, E_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, E_NOIMPL...? I forgot again. Google sets to the rescue! S_OK, E_FAIL, submit. I did that particular one at least 20 times. I worry that a truly great technology has died with Sets: the way it would correctly intuit the scope of your set. Give it cities in Ohio, it spits out other Ohio cities. But give it London and Tokyo and you get all the major metropolises across the globe. Kudos to those who made it, and I hope they can do it again when applications for it arise.