Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers

Further Exploration

Since FTP is often the only application-level protocol that computer systems share, it is a convenient communication bridge between new and old computer systems. Moreover, in addition to using FTP as a common path between disparate—or obsolete—systems, FTP is still the most common method for uploading files to websites. With the information in this chapter, you should be able to write webbots that update websites with information found at a variety of sources. Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Write a webbot that updates your corporate server with information gathered from sales reports.

• Develop a security webbot that uses a webcam to take pictures of your warehouse or parking lot, timestamps the images, and uploads ...