Thursday 27 June 2013

Data Extraction Software Explained in Plain English

Data Extraction Software is designed to automatically collect data from web pages. A lot of money can be made with Data Extraction Software, but there are two types of program - custom made and typical.

Custom made solutions are designed by developers to extract from one particular source and they can't automatically adjust to another. So for example, if we are to create a custom-build data extraction program for website A, it won't work for website B, because they have different structures. Such custom made solutions cost more money than the standard ones, but they are designed for more complicated and unique situations.

Every data extraction program is based on an algorithm that has to be programmed in such a way that it will collect all the needed data from a given website. The reason why data extraction is so popular is that it saves on manual labor which can become expensive when outsourced. Data extraction software automates repetitive operations. For example, if you want to extract just the emails of every user in a given website, then you will have to pay a person to repeat the same steps over and over again like a robot. Those steps will most likely include clicking on the same place, then copying to the clipboard a piece of data that always resides on the same place on the screen.

Data extraction software is based on certain constants. By constants, I mean certain facts about a given program that do not change, no matter what. This is perhaps the only drawback of this type of software. But for the time being, it's the only way. The other way is to use artificial intelligence and make software programs think and make decisions like humans. They would have to adapt to new systems and it's almost unthinkable to consider such complicated solutions unless you are working on a very large scale.

The Bottom line here is that data extraction software is able to automate cycled operations that are otherwise expensive if handled by humans. Although the initial investment of money and time might seem expensive, it's definitely worth it in the long run, because your customized software will do the job in much less time, without the need for any human intervention.

So, if you are working on any task on the Internet, and you feel that task could be automated, then data extraction software maybe the solution you have been looking for.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Extraction-Software-Explained-in-Plain-English&id=1477227

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