The country’s first search engine www.pipilika.com goes online officially on the eve of Pahela Baishakh today.
At least 11 researchers and developers at computer science and engineering department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, in collaboration with GPIT Ltd have already launched a beta. However, its formal launching would be at 6:30pm at the Winter Garden of Rupashi Bangla Hotel in the capital.
Eminent writer, educationist and a professor at computer science and engineering department Muhammed Zafar Iqbal played a key role as the project director of Pipilika and Assistant Professor Ruhul Amin Sajib led the team.
In the beta version, it was found that the search engine uses Bangla as its default language and the search could be filtered in time periods, like the last 24-hours, the week, the month.
Avro, which uses English keyboard to type Bangla phonetically, is the default input system.
The search engine explains and uses reports of main Bangla and English newspapers of the country, Bangla blogs, Bangla wikipedia, and government information.
There is a Bangla dictionary which automatically searches for correct words once a user types in the wrong word. It tells the user that the search was carried out with the correct word and provides an option to do another search with the incorrect word.
A few categorical searches are also available on the left of the search page.
The researchers and developers developed the tools that were needed for working with Bangla. The developers believe that searches using Bangla would increase in the long run.
They want to capture Kolkata and other places where Bangla-speaking people live. They said they would be able to save and store the research papers done in universities and other sectors in the country.
They were optimistic that Pipilika would one day be a renowned search engine like Google and Yahoo.
Source: The Daily Star, Dhaka