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Posted to solr-user@lucene.apache.org by Jack Repenning <jr...@collab.net> on 2011/05/06 00:28:31 UTC
Testing the limits of non-Java Solr
What's the probability that I can build a non-trivial Solr app without writing any Java?
I've been planning to use Solr, Lucene, and existing plug-ins, and sort of hoping not to write any Java (the app itself is Ruby / Rails). The dox (such as http://wiki.apache.org/solr/FAQ) seem encouraging. [I *can* write Java, but my planning's all been "no Java."]
I'm just beginning the design work in earnest, and I suddenly notice that it seems every mail thread, blog, or example starts out Java-free, but somehow ends up involving Java code. I'm not sure I yet understand all these snippets; conceivably some of the Java I see could just as easily be written in another language, but it makes me wonder. Is it realistic to plan a sizable Solr application without some Java programming?
I know, I know, I know: everything depends on the details. I'd be interested even in anecdotes: has anyone ever achieved this before? Also, what are the clues I should look for that I need to step into the Java realm? I understand, for example, that it's possible to write filters and tokenizers to do stuff not available in any standard one; in this case, the clue would be "I can't find what I want in the standard list," I guess. Are there other things I should look for?
-==-
Jack Repenning
Technologist
Codesion Business Unit
CollabNet, Inc.
8000 Marina Boulevard, Suite 600
Brisbane, California 94005
office: +1 650.228.2562
twitter: http://twitter.com/jrep
Re: Testing the limits of non-Java Solr
Posted by William Bell <bi...@gmail.com>.
Yeah you don't need Java to use Solr. PHP, Curl, Python, HTTP Request
APIs all work fine.
The purpose of Solr is to wrap Lucene into a REST-like API that anyone
can call using HTTP.
On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 4:35 PM, Otis Gospodnetic
<ot...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Short answer: Yes, you can deploy a Solr cluster and write an application that
> talks to it without writing any Java (but it may be PHP or Python or.... unless
> that application is you typing telnet my-solr-server 8983 ....)
>
> Otis
> ----
> Sematext :: http://sematext.com/ :: Solr - Lucene - Nutch
> Lucene ecosystem search :: http://search-lucene.com/
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Jack Repenning <jr...@collab.net>
>> To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org
>> Sent: Thu, May 5, 2011 6:28:31 PM
>> Subject: Testing the limits of non-Java Solr
>>
>> What's the probability that I can build a non-trivial Solr app without writing
>>any Java?
>>
>> I've been planning to use Solr, Lucene, and existing plug-ins, and sort of
>>hoping not to write any Java (the app itself is Ruby / Rails). The dox (such as
>>http://wiki.apache.org/solr/FAQ) seem encouraging. [I *can* write Java, but my
>>planning's all been "no Java."]
>>
>> I'm just beginning the design work in earnest, and I suddenly notice that it
>>seems every mail thread, blog, or example starts out Java-free, but somehow
>>ends up involving Java code. I'm not sure I yet understand all these snippets;
>>conceivably some of the Java I see could just as easily be written in another
>>language, but it makes me wonder. Is it realistic to plan a sizable Solr
>>application without some Java programming?
>>
>> I know, I know, I know: everything depends on the details. I'd be interested
>>even in anecdotes: has anyone ever achieved this before? Also, what are the
>>clues I should look for that I need to step into the Java realm? I understand,
>>for example, that it's possible to write filters and tokenizers to do stuff not
>>available in any standard one; in this case, the clue would be "I can't find
>>what I want in the standard list," I guess. Are there other things I should
>>look for?
>>
>> -==-
>> Jack Repenning
>> Technologist
>> Codesion Business Unit
>> CollabNet, Inc.
>> 8000 Marina Boulevard, Suite 600
>> Brisbane, California 94005
>> office: +1 650.228.2562
>> twitter: http://twitter.com/jrep
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
Re: Testing the limits of non-Java Solr
Posted by Otis Gospodnetic <ot...@yahoo.com>.
Short answer: Yes, you can deploy a Solr cluster and write an application that
talks to it without writing any Java (but it may be PHP or Python or.... unless
that application is you typing telnet my-solr-server 8983 ....)
Otis
----
Sematext :: http://sematext.com/ :: Solr - Lucene - Nutch
Lucene ecosystem search :: http://search-lucene.com/
----- Original Message ----
> From: Jack Repenning <jr...@collab.net>
> To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org
> Sent: Thu, May 5, 2011 6:28:31 PM
> Subject: Testing the limits of non-Java Solr
>
> What's the probability that I can build a non-trivial Solr app without writing
>any Java?
>
> I've been planning to use Solr, Lucene, and existing plug-ins, and sort of
>hoping not to write any Java (the app itself is Ruby / Rails). The dox (such as
>http://wiki.apache.org/solr/FAQ) seem encouraging. [I *can* write Java, but my
>planning's all been "no Java."]
>
> I'm just beginning the design work in earnest, and I suddenly notice that it
>seems every mail thread, blog, or example starts out Java-free, but somehow
>ends up involving Java code. I'm not sure I yet understand all these snippets;
>conceivably some of the Java I see could just as easily be written in another
>language, but it makes me wonder. Is it realistic to plan a sizable Solr
>application without some Java programming?
>
> I know, I know, I know: everything depends on the details. I'd be interested
>even in anecdotes: has anyone ever achieved this before? Also, what are the
>clues I should look for that I need to step into the Java realm? I understand,
>for example, that it's possible to write filters and tokenizers to do stuff not
>available in any standard one; in this case, the clue would be "I can't find
>what I want in the standard list," I guess. Are there other things I should
>look for?
>
> -==-
> Jack Repenning
> Technologist
> Codesion Business Unit
> CollabNet, Inc.
> 8000 Marina Boulevard, Suite 600
> Brisbane, California 94005
> office: +1 650.228.2562
> twitter: http://twitter.com/jrep
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Re: Testing the limits of non-Java Solr
Posted by Erick Erickson <er...@gmail.com>.
You've hit it right on the head... if you can use the standard
analyzers/filters/etc, you're in good shape.
You have to process the output (xml, json, whatever) as Otis
says, but that's in whatever language your app server uses.
But when was the last time you were motivated to write a blog
post like "just used the package and it all worked" :). Perhaps
one of the things you're seeing is that people are motivated
to write about the nifty parts of what they do... Coupled with
the fact that people write to the users' list exactly because they
can't make the standard stuff do their particular task.
It's nice to know you *can* extend it with plugins for those gnarly
situations though.
So I say "go for it"!
Best
Erick
On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 6:28 PM, Jack Repenning <jr...@collab.net> wrote:
> What's the probability that I can build a non-trivial Solr app without writing any Java?
>
> I've been planning to use Solr, Lucene, and existing plug-ins, and sort of hoping not to write any Java (the app itself is Ruby / Rails). The dox (such as http://wiki.apache.org/solr/FAQ) seem encouraging. [I *can* write Java, but my planning's all been "no Java."]
>
> I'm just beginning the design work in earnest, and I suddenly notice that it seems every mail thread, blog, or example starts out Java-free, but somehow ends up involving Java code. I'm not sure I yet understand all these snippets; conceivably some of the Java I see could just as easily be written in another language, but it makes me wonder. Is it realistic to plan a sizable Solr application without some Java programming?
>
> I know, I know, I know: everything depends on the details. I'd be interested even in anecdotes: has anyone ever achieved this before? Also, what are the clues I should look for that I need to step into the Java realm? I understand, for example, that it's possible to write filters and tokenizers to do stuff not available in any standard one; in this case, the clue would be "I can't find what I want in the standard list," I guess. Are there other things I should look for?
>
> -==-
> Jack Repenning
> Technologist
> Codesion Business Unit
> CollabNet, Inc.
> 8000 Marina Boulevard, Suite 600
> Brisbane, California 94005
> office: +1 650.228.2562
> twitter: http://twitter.com/jrep
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>