An offline application for searching an index of open-access books.
During my student days, a great deal of benefit was gained, and, in fact, still is, by wandering through a library’s books. Such wandering enabled me to go beyond a course’s formal requirements. For example, understanding multi-dimensional spaces was difficult for me. Then I ran across a book by a Russian mathematician that had been translated into English. His explanation and illustrations were so clear that I was able to grasp and apply the concept. This was important not only in mathematics but also in designing computer systems, especially the structure of data in memory.
BookSearch, the capability presented here, allows one to explore the “card catalog” of a large collection of open-access downloadable books. The search can be conducted without internet access. However, internet access is required to actually download a book. The idea is to make best use of internet access when that is available. This supports people who do not always have internet access, an important consideration in many parts of the world. If internet access is readily available, an online version of this application is available: http://informationanthology.net/Open-Access-Search.html.
See ReadMe.pdf for details on using this application. BookSearch.exe starts a local webserver and provides an interface for searching the database. Set your browser to http://127.0.0.1:5000 for the search dialog. Enter ^C into the console to end the application. The About tab shows the sources used. These sources were consolidated into the application presented here.
I use this application to find quality material while developing college courses for various organizations that provide learning opportunities. I hope you also gain good benefit.
Create an empty directory and place these files into that directory.
BookSearch.exe - The application's executable.
ReadMe.pdf - Information on how to use the application.
data.zip - Contains a directory with the book index.
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
Permissions of this strongest copyleft license are conditioned on making available complete source code of licensed works and modifications, which include larger works using a licensed work, under the same license. Copyright and license notices must be preserved. Contributors provide an express grant of patent rights. When a modified version is used to provide a service over a network, the complete source code of the modified version must be made available.
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