The Other Search Engines

**WebSavvy** · 11:55 AM

With major search engines leaning more towards personalized search, and Google's own contributions to the mix (e.g., hilltop, trustrank, etc.) it only seems logical that one of the majors would consider using Lojban.

IMO, if they were able to perfect a Lojban algorithm it would reclassify search as we now know it.

For those of you not familiar with Lojban, a brief summary of what Lojban encompasses:

Quote:

[1] Lojban is designed to be used by people in communication with each other, and possibly in the future with computers.
[2] Lojban is designed to be culturally neutral.
[3] Lojban grammar is based on the principles of logic.
[4] Lojban has an unambiguous grammar.
[5] Lojban has phonetic spelling, and unambiguous resolution of sounds into words.
[6] Lojban is simple compared to natural languages; it is easy to learn.
[7] Lojban's 1300 root words can be easily combined to form a vocabulary of millions of words.
[8] Lojban is regular; the rules of the language are without exception.
[9] Lojban attempts to remove restrictions on creative and clear thought and communication.
[10] Lojban has a variety of uses, ranging from the creative to the scientific, from the theoretical to the practical.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Would it be practical or impossible?

**ADAM Web Design** · 03-28-2007, 12:11 PM

Wow, that's big text.

I don't get this. It looks like some sort of language created by D&D nerds with nothing better to do. Or am I missing something completely?

**WebSavvy** · 03-28-2007, 12:32 PM

Lojban was actually developed 20 years ago long before D & D was even a glimmer in some nerd's eye.

If you read through the material, you'll quickly learn that Lojban is one of the more logical types of programming and it escapes me as to why it hasn't been used in a major SE yet?

I've been a Lojban fan for years. I just thought it'd make interesting discussion here as there are quite a few other programming types here too.

**Learning Newbie** · 03-28-2007, 04:30 PM

I'm confused, too. Lojban is a programming language? A human language? I remember reading about some new language for humans, based on Romance languages, that was supposed to be much easier to learn, and ultimately to become the one universal means of communication. Then it was forgotten.

If it's a programming language, that could mean lots of things. For example, in C, "c" doesn't equal "C" and "cat" is different from "cats" or "Cat." In SQL, text comparisons for equality are case insensitive. The SQL language changes the way data is evaluated for simplicity of the programmer. Is this what you're talking about?

It sounds like doing this type of linguistic data analysis must require tremendous computing power?

**WebSavvy** · 03-28-2007, 06:38 PM

Yep, it's a programming language but it's done in a different manner. Yes, it would require lots of computing power (from what I've read).

It's still an interesting concept, though.

**ForrestCroce** · 03-29-2007, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WebSavvy

Yes, it would require lots of computing power (from what I've read).

I get the sense that's something Google has to spare. They've been adding more linguistic features to their search: spell check, looking for singular and plural, things like that.

They also have a massive database they can analyze in any way they'd like...

**willcode4beer** · 04-02-2007, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WebSavvy

Lojban was actually developed 20 years ago long before D & D was even a glimmer in some nerd's eye.

D&D is over 30 years old

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons

**ozziedave** · 04-25-2007, 08:59 AM

Forget D & D try B & D