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Web Scraping and Web APIs

Web Scraping is a technique for extracting large amounts of unstructured data from websites and converting it into a structured format, often using various tools. While scraping public data is generally legal, scraping nonpublic data is illegal. Web APIs facilitate communication between applications over the web, allowing access to data and services, and are commonly used in various applications like Google Maps and Twitter.

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12 views2 pages

Web Scraping and Web APIs

Web Scraping is a technique for extracting large amounts of unstructured data from websites and converting it into a structured format, often using various tools. While scraping public data is generally legal, scraping nonpublic data is illegal. Web APIs facilitate communication between applications over the web, allowing access to data and services, and are commonly used in various applications like Google Maps and Twitter.

Uploaded by

nandini.slytherin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Web Scraping

Definition:
Web Scraping is a technique used to extract large amounts of data from websites. It gathers
unstructured data from webpages and converts it into a structured format.

How it works:

 Scraping tools access web content, extract specific information like prices, ratings,
and model names, and store it locally.
 This is especially useful in projects like a phone comparison website where data from
multiple sources is needed quickly.

Legality:

 Scraping public data is usually legal.


 Scraping nonpublic or restricted data is considered illegal.

Tools Used:

 Scrapping-bot
 Scrapper API
 Octoparse
 Import.io
 Webhose.io
 Dexi.io
 Outwit
 Diffbot
 Content Grabber
 Mozenda
 Web Scrapper Chrome Extension

Benefits:

 Dynamic Price Monitoring: Helps track and compare product prices across websites.
 Market Research: Useful for collecting accurate market trend data.
 Email Gathering: Assists in collecting emails for targeted marketing.

Web APIs

Definition:
A Web API (Web Application Programming Interface) allows applications to communicate
over the web using the HTTP protocol. It enables applications to access data or services from
another application.

Key Features:

 Built using frameworks like ASP.NET, Java, etc.


 Used for developing HTTP-based RESTful services.
 Can return data in various formats like JSON, XML.

Where and Why Used:

 Cross-platform compatibility: Ideal for services accessible from web browsers,


mobiles, and tablets.
 Lightweight and fast: Suitable for devices with limited bandwidth.
 Data sharing: APIs expose endpoints for accessing internal data.

Common Use Cases:

1. Google Maps API – Embeds maps in web applications.


2. YouTube API – Integrates YouTube functionalities.
3. Flickr API – Accesses photo data from Flickr.
4. Twitter APIs – Accesses tweets, search, and trend data.

Steps to Use:

1. Get an API key via registration.


2. Use HTTP clients (like Postman, REST-Client) to send requests.
3. Form URLs using API documentation to extract data.

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