Information Retrieval Framework (IRF)

The Information Retrieval Framework (IRF) is a public domain object-oriented framework for information retrieval applications developed and distributed by the Retrieval Group at NIST.

See:
Description

Packages

gov.nist.nlpir.irf	classes and interfaces at the highest level of the framework
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.broker	classes that support persistence by means of (de)serialization
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.conversion	classes that support the transformation of raw document data into document objects and their component objects
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.de	classes and interfaces that model data elements - parts of documents
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.de.normalize	classes that support stemming, stopword removal, etc.
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.document	classes and interfaces that model documents and collections of documents
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.feature	classes that model indexing features of various types
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.handle	classes that model information needed by brokers to access the objects they manage
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.index	classes and interfaces that support indexes - dictionaries of indexing features by source document or document data element
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.index.braf	classes and interfaces that support indexes implemented using buffered random access files
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.indexer	classes that support the building of indexes
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.irfman	classes that provide high-level management of information retrieval application resources
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.matcher	classes responsible for comparing one set of indexing features with another (e.g., a document's with a query's)
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.modality	classes that model the various choices controling indexing and retrieval
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.proxy	classes that model what is common to all proxies and their management.
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.query	classes that model the information retrieval query, its interpretation, and evaluation
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.result	classes that model the result of a search as a hierarchy of nested results corresponding to the structure of the query
gov.nist.nlpir.irf.util	classes modeling structures and functionality of general utility
gov.nist.nlpir.irfapps	classes providing functionality of use in multiple IRF-based applications - a sample application.
gov.nist.nlpir.irfapps.hci	classes supporting the IRF-based HCI application: text IR against a collection of TROFF-formatted abstracts of HCI articles.
gov.nist.nlpir.irfapps.trec	classes modeling concepts common to IRF-based IR applications againt TREC-like document collections
gov.nist.nlpir.irfapps.trec.cran	classes modeling IRF-based IR applications against the Cranfield document collection in TREC-format
gov.nist.nlpir.irfapps.trec.fbis	classes modeling IRF-based IR applications against the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) document collection in TREC-format
gov.nist.nlpir.misc.io	a class that provides support for buffered random access files

The Information Retrieval Framework (IRF) is a public domain object-oriented framework for information retrieval applications developed and distributed by the Retrieval Group group at NIST.

We gratefully acknowledge that the starting point for IRF was, with permission, the proprietary FIRE system developed in C++ by researchers at UBS's Information Technology Laboratory. They deserve credit for many good design decisions that survive in IRF, which started as a translation of the core elements of FIRE. They are of course not responsible for any problems we may have have introduced into IRF in the translation and modifications we carried out.