Bet you that someone have told you "Google it" when in doubt about a library method, an error message in command line or bug when you are developin...
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Ah nice move. The main ddg feature I do love is bangs duckduckgo.com/bang. This is amazing. Lets say you want to check mdn for that JavaScript method you always forget ? Just type !js Object.assign. You want yo check that github project ? !gh nock. Check zeke's talk at dotJS for more youtu.be/rKWHS2cfcAw
Wow, that's neat! I learned something
Yep. I just can't live without this feature anymore.
My favorites are StackOverflow !ov and, when I think Google will have better results, !g
Wow, that's super cool!!! 🤩
I've been already using DuckDuckGo for quite a long time now, but didn't know that!
In addition to answers to questions, DuckDuckGo also provides quick access to information from references. So if, for example, I want to look up about a particular CSS property, I can just DuckDuck it and most likely everything I need to know about it is there (often from MDN). Cheat sheets are also very useful - e.g. 'HTML cheat sheet' will instantly bring up a cheat sheet of common html elements. Cheat sheets also work for finding keyboard shortcuts e.g. 'atom cheat sheet' will give you a list of Atom keyboard shortcuts.
Not seen these cheat sheet results before! This is amazing.
Yeah! I've seen that feature! Thanks!
That is definitely a nice feature!
But I will be sticking with Google because it knows me. Some say that is creepy, I say it is handy. For example, Google knows I have been writing a lot of Java lately. So when I ask it "how to write to a file" it gives me Java results:
This example is pretty trivial because I could have added "java" to the end of the query to get similar results. However there have been many instances where Google has resolved much more complicated queries by fusing my search query with my personal data. Google is auto-magically providing implicit context to everything I search, allowing me to spend less time querying and more time reading + doing.
Obviously if you don't want Google tracking you this is a no-go. Personally I think the convenience is worth the cost.
When I type "how to write to a file" I got the same java result but I don't use java.
True for me as well: the first hit is for python (my language of preference), but then they are all Java (which I don't use). Seems like this specific query has a lot of clicks for java, which makes this specific example not so useful.
However, I have felt how Google uses my search history for better results during my queries, so I still agree it is a behavior that I find convenient.
I realized after posting this that Java is a bad example since it is so popular. But there was a time where I primarily used Scala and generic queries quickly brought me to Scala results so Google is definitely trying to figure it out.
Yeah agreed. I have honestly never understood the "omg Google tracks you to show ads" argument. If I'm using an ad-supported service why would I not want those ads as tailored as possible? Why it good thing for me to see less relevant ads?
Wow! That's an amazing feature! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Jaime! Do you believe that is sustainable? Stackoverflow need to receive your visit, because is a free service. Stackoverflow need to be renumeramete by publishers, companies finding new talents, etc. So, don't thing that your sugestion is a good, in many ways: 1) Sometimes giving a up vote, you can help others, 2) Is good practise see another awnsers, many times the best options is not a correct (chosen), 3) You can write a improved answer or comment something. 4) Stackowerflow depends of your visit to survive!
So, You can use the DuckDuckgo, but please, visit the page!
Of course! Someone just give me the same observation a few hours ago, he made a comparison with leechers (from the torrent times). Even though I do have a StackOverflow account I forgot to mention in the post that I always come back and enter the site for an upvoting to the answer or for a comment on the question.
Thanks for your comment!
Google does the same thing with most things. Weather, dictionary sites and other sites they take small excepts from and show on search results. They are basically killing the internet
They also donate a portion of their revenue to various privacy minded causes.
duckduckgo.com/donations
Plus, if you aren't having luck with DDG, you can get private Google results via StartPage with their bang
!s <obscure error>Actually, DuckDuckGo generates revenue in two ways (while upholding our privacy policy): advertising and affiliate revenue.
The source:
duck.co/help/company/advertising-a...
Thanks! I think I have to clarify that statement. :)
My only beef with DDG is the fact it doesn't show a date with the results. Which is the main reason I switched back to Google
I understand, it is important to remember that not all tools work the same way for everyone. Thanks for reading!
Heh, come back with another post when you discover that you are missing out on search results for your search terms. When you've spent hours searching DuckDuckGo and then tried googling the same search terms and the exact solution/topic you need poped up at the top when DuckDuckGo didn't even find it. Happened to me more than a couple dozen times in about six months I was using it and so eventually I had it with DuckDuckGo. I was wasting huge amounts of time just to use a hip search engine. Switched back to Google because results matter everything else is just sugar.
It happened to me a couple of times, but since most of my questions are quite basic when developing software, I find myself most of the times with the right answer using DDG.
Maybe I should update the post title to "I'm developing software and I don't Google... yet". :D
I must say again that it is important to remember that not all tools work the same way for everyone and this probably should be a quote to include in my next post. Thanks for your comment!
Welcome to the Duck side!
I switched a few months ago and never looked back.
I moved to DDG about 7 months ago, just to see if it could work as a replacement. The only reason I have had to use Google is for Google scholar! Otherwise DDG is great.
Favourite feature is showing the answer to the closest matching stack overflow question - speeds things up a lot.
While this is a neat feature that I didn't know about (and I'm all for advertising DuckDuckGo even though I don't use it right now), I feel like the "copy paste the top answer and don't even think about it" action path it encourages might not be the best.
I'm a pretty big DuckDuckGo fan these days too. I like the way the present info and I like how they don't track.
I do, on occasion, for obscure technical things, have to pop into google to get results sometimes, but it's a small price.
Can't give up google maps yet, but the way it has been changing, I'm ready for a simple challenger with streetview to pick me off.
This is just amazing! Thank you!
It gives a whole new meaning to the term Duck Debugging. We could call it “DuckDuck Debugging”? Eh? Eh? It’s okay, I will see myself out.
PS - I love DuckDuckGo!
Pls change "yes, sir" to "yes, ma'am" or just remove the gendered way of addressing your audience. Otherwise, fun article.
Thanks! Already done. :D
Cool, I'd definitely try it out
Been using DDG for quite sometime now. I just love it!
Interesting article, but the title is clickbait though.
This is a terrible feature. Google does this to Wikipedia as well. These free sites survive off having ads and search engines are slowly killing them by stealing their page views.
Tried it for a month. Oftentimes it isn't quite as good as Google and that adds up quickly.
When I google it, it does give the SO answers, but not nearly as nicely as DuckDuckGo! I'm sold!
I think Google is copying them. Just noticed this:
Hola, paisano!
Great post. I have been using DuckDuckGo for about a year ever since I sent them my first ever PR to an open source project and I don't miss google at all.