Recent searches
Search options
@natematias@social.coopToday I gave up on search engines and added a bookmark to the Python docs because Google results are so bad I can't use it while programming. Sigh.
It's heartbreaking to watch excellent public goods like the python docs get overwhelmed with spammy semi-content and generative AI :(
@natematias I had the same experience just a few hours ago for some JavaScript stuff, both DDG and Google were utterly useless. Every top-ranking hit has transformed into the GenAI equivalent of recipe blogs.
@gedankenstuecke yeah, sigh :(
@natematias which makes it even more infuriating that mozilla at some point thought adding “AI” to the MDN docs was a bright idea. IIRC that’s at least for now on ice…
@natematias duckduckgo seems to have python docs as first result for a few queries I tried. Maybe give up on Google, but not all search engines? I thought it would be annoying to switch, but it was really seamless - the only thing I miss, searching for Google maps, is actually better with DDG because you can use "!m" prefix to search there directly and Google removed the link to Google maps from search results a few years ago anyway.
@natematias I find brave.search.com very good. I especially like the ability to get an AI-based answer based on the top results (so less flaky than a standard ChatGPT answer or similar).
Otherwise, have you tried https://devdocs.io ? I tend to have it open in a tab at all times for quick doc lookups in a number of languages.
@natematias It's been super frustrating and honestly just plain sad to watch Google Search devolve so rapidly. I remember the first time I used it and what a sea-change it was, and then a few years ago as it became progressively more useless for anything highly technical or deeply esoteric. Try searching binary opcodes in a sea of SEO spam, when you know that like six other people on earth have tried solving the problem you're currently working on. Bleak.