Re: Timeliner (was "Request for Info....Diva? Anyone?)

Lloyd Wood (L.Wood@surrey.ac.uk)
Fri, 24 Apr 1998 22:50:23 +0100 (BST)


On Fri, 24 Apr 1998 WILKINS@hws.edu wrote:

> I have just used the International Interlibrary Loan database to verify that
> a novel by the title of TIMELINER does exist.

Amazon is filled with garbage on 'Timeliner'. No help there.

> It was originally published in 1955 by "Charles Eric Maine" [which
> is the pseudonym used by David McIlwain]. The notes to the official
> bibliographic record of the Library Congress state that this work is
> "based on the [author's] radio play The Einstein Highway".
>
> If you go to AltaVista and do the following search:
>
> +maine and +timeliner

that mixes 'simple' and boolean concepts. In the simple interface,

+maine +timeliner

suffices, and the 'and' is ignored. In the 'advanced' boolean interface,
either:

maine and timeliner (maine AND timeliner , if you're using Excite!)
maine & timeliner

suffices, and the pluses, as punctuation, are redundant and not
considered. (I recall that Altavista's boolean interface used to
reject queries with pluses - to scare off simple users, I think..)

A 1955 sf novel with hypodermic syringes? Very avant-garde.

L.

thinks the 'simple' interface is the better expression of Venn.

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