I'm really curious how you expert knows that the present system "indexes every word properly". You can certainly test any scenario that can be defined precisely via unit tests as Lance suggests.
Ask for *concrete* examples he's concerned with. Write tests to show that each example works. Ask for more. Do NOT accept requiring "proof" that's not demonstrable by tests, that way madness lies. Besides, it's impossible. Or just propose a pilot project. Underlying the whole discussion is that using Lucene makes your business go faster/more profitably/leaner/whatever. Find a pain point in the current system and volunteer to see if Lucene can make that pain go away. Then enlist the business side of the company saying "we can deliver on XYZ better than the old system, should we continue?" Really, you have to show that you can demonstrate delivering *business value* with Lucene that isn't being delivered currently. Otherwise this is just one of those endless technical discussions that has no value to your company. And if you can't deliver business value, you have no reason to use Lucene. Or any other new technology for that matter. Once you demonstrate business value, rational decisions can be made whether the development effort is worth the cost. It's really, really effective to take something that has been "too hard to do" with the old system and deliver it in, say, three weeks with new technology. *That* demonstration takes most of the wind out of abstract "issues". Pilot projects are especially attractive to management because they can define the cost. As in "You have 4 weeks to demonstrate this with a 3 person team". They also give you a much deeper insight into the technology which informs the discussion. Of course you should pick a pain point that you have some hope of solving <G>. Best Erick On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 9:54 PM, David Linde <davidli...@gmail.com> wrote: > Has anyone figured out a way to logically prove that lucene indexes ever > word properly? > > Our company has done alot of research into lucene, all of our IT department > is really impressed and excited about lucene *except* one of the older > search/indexing experts. > Who doesn't want to move to a new search engine, is there anyway to > logically prove, that lucene indexes every word properly? > > One idea we considered is attempting to rebuild the source from the index, > but it seems like doing that would take a huge effort. > > Any ideas or thoughts, would be very much appreciated. > > Thanks in advance > David >
