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Compare Go and Node.js for scraping store locations from Woolworths Australia
How does scraping store locations from Woolworths, one of Australia’s largest supermarket chains, differ between Go and Node.js? Does Go’s Colly library provide better performance for handling static content, or does Node.js with Puppeteer offer more flexibility for interacting with JavaScript-rendered elements like maps or location pop-ups? Which language is better suited for handling tasks like pagination or navigating through multiple location pages?
Below are two implementations—one in Go and one in Node.js—for scraping store locations, including the name, address, and opening hours, from a Woolworths Australia page. Which approach better handles these challenges and ensures accurate data extraction?Go Implementation:package main import ( "fmt" "log" "github.com/gocolly/colly" ) func main() { // Create a new Colly collector c := colly.NewCollector() // Scrape store locations c.OnHTML(".store-list-item", func(e *colly.HTMLElement) { name := e.ChildText(".store-name") address := e.ChildText(".store-address") hours := e.ChildText(".store-hours") fmt.Printf("Store Name: %s\nAddress: %s\nOpening Hours: %s\n", name, address, hours) }) // Handle errors c.OnError(func(_ *colly.Response, err error) { log.Println("Error occurred:", err) }) // Visit the Woolworths store locator page err := c.Visit("https://www.woolworths.com.au/store-locator") if err != nil { log.Fatalf("Failed to visit website: %v", err) } }Node.js Implementation:
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer'); (async () => { const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: true }); const page = await browser.newPage(); // Navigate to the Woolworths store locator page await page.goto('https://www.woolworths.com.au/store-locator', { waitUntil: 'networkidle2' }); // Wait for the store list to load await page.waitForSelector('.store-list-item'); // Extract store locations const stores = await page.evaluate(() => { return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.store-list-item')).map(store => ({ name: store.querySelector('.store-name')?.innerText.trim() || 'Name not found', address: store.querySelector('.store-address')?.innerText.trim() || 'Address not found', hours: store.querySelector('.store-hours')?.innerText.trim() || 'Hours not found', })); }); console.log('Store Locations:', stores); await browser.close(); })(); -
4 Replies
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Go’s Colly library is lightweight and highly performant, making it ideal for scraping static pages or handling large-scale scraping tasks. However, it might struggle with JavaScript-rendered content like store maps or dynamic elements.
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Node.js with Puppeteer excels at scraping dynamic content, such as interactive store maps or location-specific details that are loaded after the initial page load. This makes it a better choice for modern web applications like Woolworths.
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If pagination is required, both Go and Node.js can handle it effectively. In Colly, you can follow pagination links recursively, while Puppeteer allows you to click “Next” buttons and scrape additional pages programmatically.
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For scalability, Go’s efficient concurrency model is a significant advantage when scraping a large number of store locations. However, Node.js provides a more flexible ecosystem for handling complex web scraping tasks involving dynamic content.
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