Krugle now powering Yahoo developer code search

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Yahoo has turned to Krugle to provide a new source code search function as part of its Yahoo Developer Network service portal. Ostensibly the code search function is geared towards aiding developers develop better applications and hooks based on Yahoo web technologies, although Krugle and Yahoo's front-end to it both search a more comprehensive global database of code.

Even casual observation makes it clear that Yahoo, through acquisitions and new product developments, has been racing for most of its existence to keep up with the moving target of hot needs and wants on the Web. The Yahoo Developer Network site is one way the company is attempting to lure the growing number of Web services developers to make it easier to integrate functionality already provided by the portal, in much the same way that Yahoo has focused in the past on partnering with or acquiring companies that made Web navigation and user-to-user discussion easier to manage.

The area of code search has evolved in recent years, as the amount of program code deployed and in demand continues to grow and developers look for ways to identify trouble spots in existing projects, and borrow or adapt existing solutions to pressing problems from existing examples. Unlike textual search which relies on indicators such as popularity, incoming and outgoing links, and natural language analysis in order to create and rank results, code search is more complicated, as much of it has little to no cues from the outside world as to its popularity or even its purpose. As a result, code search engines put a great deal of emphasis on offering flexible, technical (regular expression) searches and sensitivity to syntax concepts in various programming languages in order to deliver useful results to developers.

Terms of the deal with Yahoo were not disclosed. In a sure sign that the market for code search is nowhere near maturing or becoming fiercely competitive, Krugle CTO Ken Krugler even provides a comprehensive list of competitors on his blog.

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