Google Code Search: Dang

October 6, 2006, 10:06 am · 0 comments · Filed under: Google, New Mexico, Widgets

Google Labs has done it again. The company that made it OK to use AJAX now lets programmers search the source code of jillions (that’s a technical term) of software projects. OK, so this probably isn’t news to developers out there, but the reason I’m excited about it is a little more personal.

For kicks and grins, I decided to search for widgetControl, the name of a function I wrote for Sundial. Sure enough, Sundial is the #1 result. Boy howdy! Even cooler is that the way Google found this was by grabbing Sundial from MacUpdate.com and reading the zipped widget bundle. The kicker, though, is that clicking on Sundial.wdgt/LocalResources/Sundial.js takes you right into the source code.

You can then browse up the directory tree and into any of the files in the bundle. Sweet! Oh, and a nice touch is that when looking at the source code, you can step through the instances of the search term by hitting “n” on your keyboard.

Forget the implications for software development; this opens up a whole new avenue for ego-surfing…

This entry was first published on The Loop, the blog of my former employer, Clearwired Web Services.

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