What Is Parsing Of Data? - Oxylabs

Building a data parser

Let’s say you decide to build your own parser. There are a few distinct benefits if making this decision:

• A parser can be anything you like. It can be tailor-made for any work (parsing) you require. 

• It’s usually cheaper to build your own parser.

• You’re in control whatever decisions need to be made when updating and maintaining your parser. 

But, like with anything, there’s always a downside of building your own parser:

• You’ll need to hire and train a whole in-house team to build the parser.

• Maintaining the parser is necessary – meaning more in house expenses and time resources used.

• You’ll need to buy and build a server that will be fast enough to parse your data in the speed you need.

• Being in control isn’t necessarily easy or beneficial – you’ll need to work closely with the tech team to make the right decisions to create something good, spending a lot of your time planning and testing.

Building your own has its benefits – but it takes a lot of your resources and time. Especially if you need to develop a sophisticated parser for parsing large volumes. That will require more maintenance and human resources, and valuable human resources because building one will require a highly-skilled developer team. 

Buying a data parser 

So what about buying a tool that parses your data for you? Let’s start with the benefits:

• You won’t need to spend any money on human resources, as everything will be done for you, including maintaining the parser and the servers;

• Any issues that arise will be solved a lot faster, as the people you buy your tools from have extensive know-how and are familiarized with their technology; 

• It’s also less likely that the parser will crash or experience issues in general, as it will be tested and perfected to fit the markets’ requirements; 

• You’ll save a lot on human resources and your own time, as the decision-making on how to build the best parser will come from outsourcing.

Of course, there are a few downsides to buying a parser as well:

• It will be slightly more expensive;

• It’s likely you won’t have much control over it.

Now, it seems that there are a lot of benefits to simply just buying one. But one thing that might make things easier to choose is to consider what sort of parser you’ll need. An expert developer can make an easy parser probably within a week. But if it’s a complex one, it can take months – that’s a lot of time and resources. 

It also depends on whether you’re a big business that has a lot of time and resources on its hands to build and maintain a parser. Or you’re a smaller business that needs to get things done to be able to grow within the market.