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One time I used excel as site scraper, db, auto query selector, cascaded regex (regex in a cell for regex in a cell for another etc.), and a backend that dynami
by tamimio 3y ago
One time I used excel as site scraper, db, auto query selector, cascaded regex (regex in a cell for regex in a cell for another etc.), and a backend that dynamic images for a fully functional and complicated site, it was doing a lot of stuff until google found out and started blocking my requests and throttling it, so I wrote a script in there to counter it by adding some delays and such, and that worked well till I killed the site a year later. It is a powerful tool.
- rramadass 3y agoCan you recommend some resources to learn how to do the above? I would like to beef up my spreadsheet skills.
- tamimio 3y agoIf you mean all of these in one place, I don’t know, when I made that I didn’t intend it to be how it ended, but it started as a hacking something to do another and every time I stumbled upon an issue, I just search it in the docs or just the internet. That being said, I believe I still have that behemoth sheet with all the stuff I did it (except the delays script), I can make a write up about all of these sections I mentioned with examples and such, nothing soon as I’m busy with other stuff but when I do I will definitely ping you here. Just note that if you do the same you will perpetually play whack-a-mole game with google if you used that since they will keep blocking it, else people will never pay for hosting services.
- rramadass 3y agoI am a firm believer in the policy that one should "know" a few powerful tools (doesn't matter their age) very well rather than messing around with a whole bunch of tools which change with time/fads. Spreadsheets are a great "power tool" in the right hands and since i have never really explored them, your comment was intriguing to me. It would be great if you could do a complete write-up on your website/blog and submit to HN so everybody can benefit from it.