SEARCH ENGINES

Lycos:
Search Phrase: backus fortran
URL link for site found: http://softlib.rice.edu/CRPC/newsletters/oct93/news.backus.html
Comments about search/search engine: Lycos' design is more confusing and non-user friendly than Yahoo, but I found that it allows you to do more detailed searches by allowing you to choose how close you want the match to be and how many terms you want matched. The menu bar on the side shows that it is designed for a more professional/older audience as it allows you to select such topics as "Stock Find", "Companies," and "Road Maps".

Yahoo:
Search Phrase: fortran backus
and computing dictionary
URL link for site found: http://www.nsc.liu.se/~boein/f77to90/intro.html
and http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/
Comments about search/search engine: Yahoo was the easiest site to use. The design makes navigation particularly easy for an inexperienced computer user. The pre-set options given under the search window take more time to use but they are very helpful if you really don't know where to start. This site was designed for the younger user as the graphics and overall feel have a hipper design.

InfoSeek Ultra:
Search Phrase: fortran backus
URL link for site found: http://k12.colostate.edu/textbook/unit8/fortran8.1.html
and http://cs.nyu.edu/cs/faculty/shasha/outofmind/backus.html
Comments about search/search engine: I was least familiar with InfoSeek, but I found my most useful sites there. InfoSeek has the same problem Lycos does--a not particularly inviting design. The pre-set choices under the search window are not as helpful as Yahoo's because the choices aren't as detailed.

Alta Vista:
Search Phrase: backus fortran
URL link for site found: http://iew3.technion.ac.il:8080/Course/094221/1/shevi2.html
Comments about search/search engine: In my opinon, Alta Vista has the worst design of all. The engine worked well, but I don't know how often I would use it. It seems to be designed for the experienced web user, as there are no pre-set options to explore.

SUMMARY

Lycos and Yahoo were my two favorite search engines, though InfoSeek proved to be the most useful. It's hard to judge the search engines on anything but design because I found pretty much the same sites using all four search engines. The design of Yahoo is the most appealing, but the functionality of Lycos is just as important. If I was doing research for a project, I would probably use Lycos. If I was browsing through the web for fun, I would use Yahoo.
I noticed that when I entered the name "Backus" before "FORTRAN" in my searches, I would find more approachable material. This material tended to be more about Backus's accomplishments and his effect on the computer industry. As a non-technically oriented person, I found this sort of material easier to use. When I entered "FORTRAN" first, I found more information about coding and programming in FORTRAN. This material was aimed at the highly experienced computer user who was probably already familiar with FORTRAN programming. However, when I entered "FORTRAN" under InfoSeek I found information on FORTRAN aimed at a High School audience. This proved to be useful because I found the technical aspect of the topic I needed, yet I still understood the material.
Yahoo and Lycos were the two busiest sites, but I found that searching late at night speeds up the process considerably. I feel like I now have a better understanding of Alta Vista and InfoSeek and perhaps I will use those search engines again in the future.