What is Web Scraping?
Automatically extracting data from websites using code that reads and processes web page content.
Why It Matters
Web scraping lets you collect data from sites that do not offer APIs, enabling competitive analysis and data collection.
Real-World Example
A script that collects product prices from multiple competitor websites daily for comparison.
“Understanding terms like Web Scraping matters because it helps you have better conversations with developers and make smarter decisions about your software. You do not need to be technical. You just need to know enough to ask the right questions.”
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Related Terms
API
A way for different software applications to talk to each other and share data
JavaScript
The programming language that makes websites interactive and dynamic
Data Pipeline
An automated series of steps that moves and processes data from one system to another.
Full-stack
Working on both the frontend (what users see) and backend (the server and database) of an application
TypeScript
JavaScript with added type checking that catches errors before your code runs
Environment Variables
Secret settings stored outside your code, like passwords and API keys