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Businesses need to collect data, but they need to do so in the most efficient way possible. This is because data collection cannot be the sole operation that a company engages in.
While data extraction is necessary, dedicating all the time and effort can have dire consequences on other business areas.
This is why organizations think of simplicity, readability, and efficiency when looking for the best tools to scrape data.
Golang offers the chance to collect data in the simplest and most efficient way. The language is easy to learn and read, and a Golang web scraper can harvest data from several sources at once to save time and energy.
Golang and Its Features
Golang, also known as Go, is a programming language developed by Google; it was announced to the public in 2009 and made an open-source language in 2012.
To this end, it is considered the most recent programming language. However, it is known to combine the best parts of all the most common programming languages.
Some of the features of this language include:
#1 A Fast Learning Curve
One of the most glaring features that Golang possesses is a small and simplified learning curve so that anyone can go from a beginner to being able to develop a Golang web scraper in no time.
The documentation itself is made up of less than 30 keywords making it very easy to read and apply.
#2 Simplicity
In programming, languages that are considered simple have the least dependencies, and this is something that Golang features as well.
While you can easily use synchronization primitives, templates, and basic test libraries, these attributes are found within the confines of the language, and you are not required to depend on outside tools.
Golang also features forward compatibility making it very simple to use.
#3 Great Support
Another important feature of Golang lies in the amount of support behind the language. Since the language is built and owned by Google, you can be guaranteed all the support from using a Google product.
The language also supports all kinds of editors and virtual environments, from VSCode and Sublime to Atom and Emacs. This means you can work in the environment you are most familiar with.
Why Golang Is the Best Language for Building a Web Scraper
The above features and many more make Golang one of the best languages used for web scraping. For instance, the stability and flexibility ensure that no explicit initialization of variables is required, reducing runtime errors and increasing efficiency.
Golang also allows for static or structural typing so that users can determine class using structures rather than declarations. This helps to make building a tool and interacting with data easier for even beginners.
In the same vein, Golang is one of the few languages that allow for concurrency, which means that processes can be more automated and occur faster than normal.
Advantages and Complexities of Golang
Building a Golang web scraper and using it to collect relevant data quickly alone is an exciting advantage. Here’s a great blog article about how to build a Golang web scraper. However, this language also allows several other benefits and advantages, such as:
#1 For Building Distributed Network Services
The many features discussed above make Golang suitable for building and managing distributed network services.
The attribute, such as concurrency, makes Go naturally sufficient for developing services such as APIs, mini frameworks, and even web servers, all of which are important in the networking environment.
#2 For Native-Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is an interesting and emerging concept, and the ability of any programming language to allow for cloud-native development is something that holds tremendous benefits now and in the near future.
Golang makes scalability and performance very easy to come by, so it is commonly used by platforms such as Kubernetes to facilitate cloud computing.
#3 For Replacing Older Infrastructures
Another interesting advantage of Golang is that it seems to be positioned to take the place of older infrastructure and users in the new era of programming.
Languages that are becoming obsolete or more complicated to use can now be replaced by GO which even allows users to easily synchronize all the networks at their disposal.
However, even amidst all these great advantages, Golang still has a few limitations worthy of mention.
For instance, its simplicity also makes it less descriptive when compared with other languages, with Golang even requiring more lines of code than what is usually attainable with Python. The extra lines of code may cause developers to consider the language as messy or less organized.
Golang is also one of the newest programming languages being adopted today. But this newness may also mean that the language may be less compatible with older platforms and tools that are yet to accept it.
Conclusion
Golang is a new yet highly powerful programming language that is gaining popularity amongst programmers.
And due to the simplicity of the language, it is easy for anyone to develop a Golang web scraper and use it to collect data from any part of the internet without too much trouble.
