The Dataquest Download
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Python's not just for data wrangling and analysis!
This week, explore its web development magic with our new course, learn web scraping best practices, and skip ahead in lessons when you want!
Python – Your Golden Ticket into Web Development
Are you curious about web development but overwhelmed by the choice of programming languages? You’re not the only one feeling this way. What if we tell you there’s one programming language that’s like a Swiss Army knife, versatile enough for various web development tasks? That’s Python for you.
Leveraging Python for your web projects:
- All-Rounder: Python’s capability extends beyond machine learning or scientific computing right into web development.
- Backend Solutions: Equip your backends with robust and scalable attributes using Python’s Django and Flask frameworks.
- Integrated Analytics and Automation: Python enables you to infuse real-time analytics in your web apps, besides automating repetitive tasks and creating AI features.
Ready to navigate your web development journey with Python? Check out our Introduction to Python Programming for Web Development course. Explore Python’s web development capabilities through interactive lessons and a hands-on project. Create dynamic, interactive websites and boost your tech career with Python’s simplicity and power.
Tip of the week
Web Scraping Best Practices Using Python and BeautifulSoup
Level: Intermediate
Topic: Web Scraping in Data Science
The Takeaway: Utilize the BeautifulSoup library to extract and parse website content more efficiently. Adhere to ethical scraping practices to respect the website’s policies and to avoid any potential disruption or penalties.
Code Comparison:
# Without BeautifulSoup: Less efficient and readable
import requests
url = ‘https://www.example.com‘
content = requests.get(url).text
# Extracting data using raw string methods can be tedious
title_start = content.find(“<title>”) + len(“<title>”)
title_end = content.find(“</title>”)
title = content[title_start:title_end]
print(title) # Example Domain
# With BeautifulSoup: More effective and organized
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
# BeautifulSoup makes it easy to parse HTML
soup = BeautifulSoup(content, ‘html.parser’)
title = soup.title.string
print(title) # Example Domain
(Note: Always adhere to ethical web scraping practices. Respect the website’s policies and follow the instructions in the ‘robots.txt’ file to prevent being blocked. The ‘robots.txt’ file is a text file hosted on a website’s server that indicates which parts of the website can be crawled or scraped and which cannot.)
Why It Matters: BeautifulSoup turns complex HTML content into a tree of Python objects like tags, navigable strings, or comments, making it more navigable and easier to interpret.
Common Pitfalls: Aggressive scraping can lead to your IP being blocked by the website or even legal consequences. Therefore, it’s important to always follow the website’s scraping policy, comply with instructions in the “robots.txt” file, and maintain a respectful and non-intrusive scraping rate.
Community highlights
Project Spotlight
Sharing and reviewing others’ projects is one of the best things you can do to sharpen your skills. Twice a month we will share a project from the community. The top pick wins a $20 gift card!
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This week, we’re spotlighting a project by @ian.newman. Ian worked on predicting medical costs using six different machine learning models. His project has clear visuals and detailed testing, showing a strong focus on making his models better. It’s a great project to check out if you’re interested in predictive analytics. Want your project in the spotlight? Share it in the community. |
Learner spotlight
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Meet Alejandro Giraldo Riveros, who transitioned from an environmental engineer to a data analyst with Dataquest’s help. Now with better data analysis skills, he enjoys a 25% increase in salary compared to his previous position. Alejandro’s tip: “Just do it. 8-10 hours weekly on Dataquest can open amazing tech job doors.” Read more here. Want a career like Alejandro but not sure where to start? Dataquest’s Junior Data Analyst path is your way in – no prior tech knowledge needed. |
See you in the next edition! 🚀
High-fives from Vik, Celeste, Casey, Anna P, Anna S, Anishta, Bruno, Elena, Mike, Daniel, and Braya