SBAs - Search Based Applications

Googling for the above term (as of this day) does not returns quality results. However, if you search for Search Based Applications (SBAs) you will hit a wikipedia entry and certain other articles which have used the similar term. You will even find a book by the same name on Amazon. To sum, it simply means that my thought process is cutting edge ;) ...come on, this is my blog, I can brag!

But, I'm not kidding, the idea in itself is very simple... just use right data-structure(inverted indexes) for read-intensive jobs and it dramatically simplifies your application architecture and brings God sent agility to your deliveries. Let me try to explain that...

In traditional database-centered-applications data stored in relational databases can only be retrieved through SQLs, which is a good thing as it standardizes the information access. However, let us try to contrast them with SBAs;

• If the desired information is too complicated to derive from the existing data, think query complexity, frequency for the requested information, scalability, while SBAs can process both structured and natural language queries and then provide faceted navigation which allows users to slice-n-dice data in innumerable ways.
• If the needed query does not exists and as such users will need to wait for the completion of next sprint while in the other case if you have indexed the data, the information is mostly available. Think fast time to market, high agility!
• Forget mulitple tables, think about a scenario where in you need collate information from multiple data sources read emails, blog entry, cvs, pdf, office documents, simply put if you can groke text SBAs can digest them to seek intelligent information later.

As if it was not enough motivation for us to experiment more with SBAs here is some more;

• SBAs are more fault tolerant to user queries and can make spelling suggestions, return results for synonymous queries
• You can integrate your SBA with some statistical based system to identify popular entries or make recommendations using clustering and collaborative filtering
• You can even filter results which are not suitable for user think access permissions, adult content, exclusively for club members

Mind you all this talk is not just about 'search text box' generated results the usage can be more implicit based on user's context which may be driven by application specific use cases like content browsing.

Today I've just scratched the surface, more later..

Do let me know your queries and feedback.