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I just shipped a new one of these a few minutes ago (from my phone). I found out about a new Python HTML parsing library - https://github.com/EmilStenstrom/jus

by simonw 11mo ago

I just shipped a new one of these a few minutes ago (from my phone). I found out about a new Python HTML parsing library - https://github.com/EmilStenstrom/justhtml https://github.com/EmilStenstrom/justhtml - and wanted to try it out but I'm out without my laptop. So I had Claude Code for web build me a playground interface for trying it out: https://tools.simonwillison.net/justhtml https://tools.simonwillison.net/justhtml It loads the Python library using Pyodide and lets you try it out with a simple HTML UI. The prompts I used are in this PR: https://github.com/simonw/tools/pull/156 https://github.com/simonw/tools/pull/156

dotancohen 11mo ago
Serious question. How do you "try out" a library if somebody else (or something else) is writing the code? Thank you.
- simonw 11mo ago
  The thing that matters for me when considering a new library is what it can do. Once I know that I can decide if it's worth learning how to use it at a code level. In the case of JustHTML I've now been able to try it against a few different HTML documents, seen it do good pretty-printing, played with its CSS selector implementation and got a feel for its event-based streaming parser. I'm very impressed! I think I'll be using it in the future next time I need an HTML parser.
  - dotancohen 11mo ago
    I see, thank you. Until vibe coding came along, the ergonomics of a library were no less important than its functionality. But I understand how LLM assisted coding changes that perspective. I'll go tend to my empty lawn now.
mirekrusin 11mo ago
You can use react with jsx without any build step in single html file as well.
- simonw 11mo ago
  Yeah I used it for this one via Babel from a CDN but it felt pretty crufty: https://tools.simonwillison.net/box-shadow https://tools.simonwillison.net/box-shadow
  - mirekrusin 11mo ago
    Yes, I guess it would start showing advantage for complex ones. The idea is interesting, shame there is nothing for full stack like this, something like opinionated fossil-scm setup - which already has project management built in (for llm to use for its dev progress); together with backend and runtime state squashed inside single sqlite so you can create/delete them independently without a fuss.

by simonw 11mo ago

dotancohen 11mo ago

Serious question. How do you "try out" a library if somebody else (or something else) is writing the code? Thank you.

simonw 11mo ago
The thing that matters for me when considering a new library is what it can do. Once I know that I can decide if it's worth learning how to use it at a code level. In the case of JustHTML I've now been able to try it against a few different HTML documents, seen it do good pretty-printing, played with its CSS selector implementation and got a feel for its event-based streaming parser. I'm very impressed! I think I'll be using it in the future next time I need an HTML parser.
- dotancohen 11mo ago
  I see, thank you. Until vibe coding came along, the ergonomics of a library were no less important than its functionality. But I understand how LLM assisted coding changes that perspective. I'll go tend to my empty lawn now.

mirekrusin 11mo ago

You can use react with jsx without any build step in single html file as well.

simonw 11mo ago
Yeah I used it for this one via Babel from a CDN but it felt pretty crufty: https://tools.simonwillison.net/box-shadow https://tools.simonwillison.net/box-shadow
- mirekrusin 11mo ago
  Yes, I guess it would start showing advantage for complex ones. The idea is interesting, shame there is nothing for full stack like this, something like opinionated fossil-scm setup - which already has project management built in (for llm to use for its dev progress); together with backend and runtime state squashed inside single sqlite so you can create/delete them independently without a fuss.