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One problem I've always had with MSDN is that whenever I search for something, it finds stuff that I really don't care about. Typically, I'd look for a C function from the Windows API or DirectX, and it'd find me some Visual Basic function which resembles the name of the C function.

I thought, OK, maybe few people use C any more. So I'd just shrug and try another search.

However, it seems that the problem is deeper than that. Just now I looked up D3D11_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY on MSDN and I got the following result:

  • D3D10_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY Enumeration (Windows)
  • SimpleBezier11 Sample
  • effect files tesselation features - XNA Community Forums
  • The Lepidoptera Project
  • ...

Obviously this search query is very specific. There is no way D3D10_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY to be a better match than the D3D11_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY page that I know exists on MSDN (click here to see current MSDN search results for this query.)

Is it that there is something wrong with my search? Google doesn't think so: with the same query, the D3D11_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY page is at the top of its search results.

Is this a problem with MSDN itself? Maybe it's using old search technology that Microsoft hasn't been able to update yet? Surely, Bing can do better? Not really, here is what Bing found:

  • D3D10_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY Enumeration (Windows)
  • SimpleBezier11 Sample
  • Anteru’s blog » directx
  • Anteru’s blog » 2010 » March » 01
  • ...

(Click here for current Bing search results for this query.)

So there you have it: Google seems better at searching the MSDN pages than Microsoft. :)

Arseny Kapoulkine — 05 June 2010, 01:11

I always do a google search "msdn topic/function/whatever" when I need something from MSDN :)

Reg — 06 June 2010, 11:16

I always have MSDN Library installed offline on my PC. I just can't imagine launching web browser and doing full-text search (like the one described here) to find the documentation of a function, class or enum from C++ STL, WinAPI, .NET or DirectX. Especially as offline MSDN has something much more useful than full-text search that the online version lacks - the "Index"!

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