The Python SDK (Software Development Kit) for Google’s cloud platform App Engine has a new search feature that can be used to build notification, monitoring, or filtering services, Google said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Google App Engine allows developers to build and host cloud-based applications on the same systems that power Google’s own applications. To build applications, developers use the App Engine SDK for either Python or Java.
The latest version of the Python SDK has an experimental Prospective Search API, which allows developers to perform search queries on live data. Regular search engines, including Google’s own, need access to an index of the data that is to be searched. That makes it difficult and expensive to create real-time applications, Google said. However, using prospective search, developers can set up search queries and match them against new data in real time.
The Prospective Search API can be used by applications that as part of their functionality look for updates on social networks, for example. It can also analyze data and use the results to provide notification, monitoring, or filtering services, according to Google.
The Python SDK also has a new testbed, which allows developers to do local quality checks on their code without having to rely on calling App Engine production services.
Google has updated the Java SDK, as well. By default, App Engine sends requests serially to a given web server. But developers can now configure App Engine to send multiple requests in parallel. For that to work, they first need to implement thread synchronization, according to Google.
The new SDKs are both designated version 1.4.3, and can be downloaded from Google’s website. The the App Engine SDKs are still under active development, Google cautions users.
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