| The Internet is bigger and better than what a mere browser
allows. Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers is for
programmers and businesspeople who want to take full
advantage of the vast resources available on the Web.
There's no reason to let browsers limit your online
experience-especially when you can easily automate online
tasks to suit your individual needs.
Learn how to write webbots and spiders that do all this and
more:
Programmatically download entire websites
Effectively parse data from web pages
Manage cookies
Decode encrypted files
Automate form submissions
Send and receive email
Send SMS alerts to your cell phone
Unlock password-protected websites
Automatically bid in online auctions
Exchange data with FTP and NNTP servers
Sample projects using standard code libraries reinforce
these new skills. You'll learn how to create your own
webbots and spiders that track online prices, aggregate
different data sources into a single web page, and archive
the online data you just can't live without. You'll learn
inside information from an experienced webbot developer on
how and when to write stealthy webbots that mimic human
behavior, tips for developing fault-tolerant designs, and
various methods for launching and scheduling webbots. You'll
also get advice on how to write webbots and spiders that
respect website owner property rights, plus techniques for
shielding websites from unwanted robots.
As a bonus, visit the author's website to test your webbots
on sample target pages, and to download the scripts and code
libraries used in the book.
Some tasks are just too tedious-or too important!- to leave
to humans. Once you've automated your online life, you'll
never let a browser limit the way you use the Internet
again.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT 
Published by: NO STARCH PRESS