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Thus, the key element that distinguishes data scraping from regular [[parsing]] is that the output being scraped is intended for display to an [[End-user (computer science)|end-user]], rather than as an input to another program. It is therefore usually neither documented nor structured for convenient parsing. Data scraping often involves ignoring [[binary data]] (usually images or multimedia data), [[Display device|display]] formatting, redundant labels, superfluous commentary, and other information which is either irrelevant or hinders automated processing.
Data scraping is most often done either to [[Interface (computing)|interface]] to a [[legacy system]], which has no other mechanism which is compatible with current [[computer hardware|hardware]], or to interface to a third-party system which does not provide a more convenient [[Application programming interface|API]]. In the second case, the operator of the third-party system will often see [[screen scraping]] as unwanted, due to reasons such as increased system [[load (computing)|load]], the loss of [[advertisement]] [[revenue]], or the loss of control of the information content.
Data scraping is generally considered an ''[[ad hoc]]'', inelegant technique, often used only as a "last resort" when no other mechanism for data interchange is available. Aside from the higher [[computer programming|programming]] and processing overhead, output displays intended for human consumption often change structure frequently. Humans can cope with this easily, but a computer program will fail. Depending on the quality and the extent of [[error handling]] logic present in the computer, this failure can result in error messages, corrupted output or even [[program crash]]es.
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