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Which is better: Go or Node.js for scraping hotel prices from Agoda?
Scraping hotel prices from Agoda, one of the most popular booking platforms, requires careful consideration of both the programming language and the website’s dynamic content. Go and Node.js are both excellent choices, but which one is better for this task? Go’s Colly library offers high performance and concurrency, making it ideal for large-scale scraping. Node.js, with Puppeteer, provides powerful browser automation capabilities, allowing it to handle JavaScript-heavy websites like Agoda. But does Go’s simplicity in handling HTTP requests outweigh Node.js’s ability to render and interact with dynamic content?
Let’s start with an example in Go using Colly. This script works well for static content and can scrape prices efficiently:package main import ( "fmt" "log" "github.com/gocolly/colly" ) func main() { // Create a new Colly collector c := colly.NewCollector() // Scrape hotel prices c.OnHTML(".hotel-price", func(e *colly.HTMLElement) { price := e.Text fmt.Println("Hotel Price:", price) }) // Handle errors c.OnError(func(_ *colly.Response, err error) { log.Println("Error occurred:", err) }) // Visit the Agoda hotel page err := c.Visit("https://www.agoda.com/hotel-page") if err != nil { log.Fatalf("Failed to visit website: %v", err) } }Now, consider Node.js with Puppeteer for dynamic content. It can render JavaScript and extract prices from dynamic elements:
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer'); (async () => { const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: true }); const page = await browser.newPage(); // Navigate to the Agoda hotel page await page.goto('https://www.agoda.com/hotel-page', { waitUntil: 'networkidle2' }); // Wait for the price section to load await page.waitForSelector('.hotel-price'); // Extract hotel prices const prices = await page.evaluate(() => { return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.hotel-price')).map(price => price.innerText.trim()); }); console.log('Hotel Prices:', prices); await browser.close(); })();Both languages have their strengths. Go excels in speed and concurrency, making it ideal for scraping static or moderately dynamic content. Node.js, however, provides a more robust solution for JavaScript-heavy websites like Agoda. The decision ultimately depends on the complexity of the task and the developer’s familiarity with the language.
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7 Replies
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Go’s Colly library is incredibly fast and efficient for scraping static HTML content. However, it may not handle JavaScript-rendered content as effectively as Node.js with Puppeteer.
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Node.js’s Puppeteer is better suited for dynamic content, as it can render pages and interact with elements like dropdowns or pop-ups. This makes it a stronger choice for scraping complex websites like Agoda.
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Go’s concurrency model allows for scraping multiple pages simultaneously with minimal resource usage, making it a great option for large-scale scraping projects.
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Node.js has a larger ecosystem and community support for web scraping, which can be useful for troubleshooting and finding solutions to complex problems.
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For handling anti-bot measures, Node.js’s Puppeteer offers features like user-agent rotation and proxy integration. Go would require additional libraries to implement similar functionality.
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If you need to process or analyze the scraped data, Go’s performance advantage could save time during execution. However, Node.js’s flexibility makes it easier to integrate with other tools and services.
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To improve reliability, both implementations should include error handling for network failures and unexpected changes in the website structure. This ensures the scraper remains functional over time.
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