What Are the Benefits of Golang Web Scrapers?
When considering your first scraping project, the first programming language to spring to your mind will probably be Python. It’s not surprising why it is a popular choice among most developers.
Python has been around for more than a decade now. It offers simplified syntax and requires less learning curve, making it an excellent choice for beginners and pros alike.
But times have evolved, and with each passing day, we have a new programming language on the market. Golang, for instance, has been gaining traction recently.
Today, many developers consider Golang web scraper for data extraction, but is it worth it? Let’s find out!
What Is Web Scraping?
Web scraping allows you to automate data extraction, which is quite tedious when done manually. Not only does it offer a quick way to harvest valuable data, but it also proves to be beneficial for your business.
From market research to price comparison and lead generation to effective data management, web scraping enables you to perform these activities on the go.
The question is, how does programming language associate with web scraping?
Consider you want to scrape a website.
What’s next?
You’d need to pick the programming language to scrape the data you want.
The most popular options include Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js. However, the Golang web scraper has been making waves recently.
Developers believe it offers benefits that encourage them to choose it over other programming languages.
What Is Golang?
Golang is an open-source and statistically typed programming language created by Google. It was first designed by Rob Pike, Robert Griesemer, and Ken Thompson in 2009.
Although a relatively newer language, Go is known for its efficiency, readability, and high performance.
Choosing the best programming language is not as straightforward. One language may offer features that another does not.
As a rule of thumb, it is always better to check the key features of all languages. This helps you pick the one per your preferences.
Key Features of Golang
Let’s take a look at the core features of Golang.
- Go is pretty robust and statically typed and doesn’t include implicit conversions. Nonetheless, the syntactic overhead is relatively small. Still, Go remains stronger in terms of type safety than Java, and the code reads similar to Python.
- It offers a minimal interface that is easy to understand
- The built-in frameworks of Go are small and do not require a learning curve. Nonetheless, that doesn’t indicate they aren’t functional. Additionally, it also includes several third-party add-ons.
- You can construct programs using packages that provide you with clear code separation. It wouldn’t be wrong to consider the package mechanism as the most well-built feature.
- Concurrency is the primary part of Golang
If you’re interested in building a web scraper in Golang, here’s a great blog article on this topic.
Why Use Golang for Scraping?
It is crucial to look at the benefits of Go to determine why you may want to consider it for web scraping. Below, we’ve discussed reasons you may prefer Golang web scraper for data extraction.
Performance
The exterior of Golang isn’t snazzy-looking, but it doesn’t compromise on what it has got inside it. It is incredibly fast. In fact, it was built on this purpose, whereas speed was never Python’s aim in the first place.
So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Go beats Python and even Java in terms of speed. If you prefer speed over anything else, perhaps you’d want to choose Go.
However, running time, language, and libraries can significantly impact its overall performance. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is a faster programming language.
Minimalist Language
If there is one thing all developers prefer, it’s a minimalist programming language. Fortunately, Go offers just that.
The formal Golang language only has 50 pages and a plethora of examples. On top of that, they are pretty easy to read.
You can learn its usage from the specifications alone if you’re a pro developer. However, note that the complexity doubles when adding new features to a language.
Enhanced Productivity
If you’re new to Go, you will not encounter weird, hard-to-understand codes. Instead, multiple assignments, pointers, data structures, and an HTTP library is all you’ll see in Go. Python, on the flip side, allows you to get more creative.
Although more features sound enticing and are fun to experiment with, they make the code difficult when trying to read someone’s work.
Go, on the other hand, is pretty basic, allowing you to read and understand anyone’s code. This eventually enhances your productivity as you won’t spend extra time and effort trying to comprehend the code.
Conclusion
With more people turning towards web scraping, there’s a concern about the best programming language for data extraction.
The above explanation shows that Go beats Python, if not all programming languages, in speed and performance. Concurrency, the integral part of Golang, allows for better performance.
Beyond that, Golang web scraper is minimalistic and easy to understand. So you won’t struggle to read the codes and save your time simultaneously.
