prompter: write me a js code that can scrape a website through the browsers element inspector

assistant: There are different ways to scrape data from a website using JavaScript. One way is to use the Console panel of the browser’s developer tools to write JavaScript code that can access the HTML elements of the webpage. Another way is to use a JavaScript library such as Puppeteer or Cheerio that can automate browser actions and manipulate DOM elements.

Here is an example of a simple JS code that can scrape the title and author of each quote from https://quotes.toscrape.com/ using the Console panel:

```
// Select all div elements with class "quote"
let quotes = document.querySelectorAll("div.quote");

// Loop through each quote element
for (let quote of quotes) {
  // Get the text content of the span element with class "text"
  let text = quote.querySelector("span.text").textContent;
  // Get the text content of the small element with class "author"
  let author = quote.querySelector("small.author").textContent;
  // Print the text and author
  console.log(text + " - " + author);
}
```

prompter: Can you give me a step by step breakdown of how I would use this JS code?

assistant: Sure, here's a step by step breakdown of how you can use the JS code to scrape the website:

- Open your web browser and go to https://quotes.toscrape.com/.
- Open the Developer Tools of your browser by pressing F12 on Windows and Linux or Command+Option+I on a Mac.
- Go to the Console tab in the Developer Tools.
- Copy and paste the JS code into the Console panel.
- Press the Enter key to execute the code.
- The Console panel should print out the text and author of each quote on the page.

assistant: Sure, here is a step by step breakdown of how to use the JS code:

1. Open the webpage you want to scrape in your browser.
2. Right-click anywhere on the webpage and select "Inspect" or press F12 to open the developer tools.
3. In the developer tools, switch to the Console panel.
4. Copy and paste the JS code into the Console panel and press Enter to run it.
5. The code should output the text and author of each quote in the console.
6. You can copy and paste the output to a text editor or spreadsheet to save the scraped data.

assistant: # Quotes Page

```html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Quotes Page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="quote">
      <span class="text">Be the change you wish to see in the world.</span>
      <small class="author">Mahatma Gandhi</small>
    </div>
    <div class="quote">
      <span class="text">The only way to do great work is to love what you do.</span>
      <small class="author">Steve Jobs</small>
    </div>
    <div class="quote">
      <span class="text">If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.</span>
      <small class="author">African Proverb</small>
    </div>
    <script>
      let quotes = document.querySelectorAll("div.quote");
      for (let quote of quotes) {
        let text = quote.querySelector("span.text").textContent;
        let author = quote.querySelector("small.author").textContent;
        console.log(text + " - " + author);
      }
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

An example HTML page that contains three `div` elements with the class `"quote"`, each of which contains a `span` element with class `"text"` and a `small` element with class `"author"`. The JavaScript code selects each `div` element with class `"quote"`, retrieves the text content of the `span` element with class `"text"`, retrieves the text content of the `small` element with class `"author"`, and logs the text and author to the console.

assistant: You don't generally execute JavaScript in the browser element inspector. You'd use the console for that, if anything. 

The implementation details vary per website but you could use the following as a starting point:

```js
//create an array that will hold the information we want
const information = [];

// get the base-elements you're interested in
const $el = $(".interesting-item");

//drill-down in each element and extract the required information
$el.forEach(e => {
  //gather information from the element and put it in an object
  const info = {};
  info["property-1"] = $(e).find(".property-1").val()
  info["property-2"] = $(e).find(".property-2").val()

  //add the gathered information to the array of all info
  information.push(info);
});
```

You can use the element inspector to get the correct CSS-selectors.

prompter: Can you describe what is happening with each line?

assistant: ```js
const information = [];
```
The first line create an array that will be used to store the results.


```js
const $el = $(".interesting-item");
```
Then we select the interesting elements in the page with a CSS selector.
In this example it's the elements that have the class *.interesting-item*.

```js
$el.forEach(e => {
```
Then we iterate on each of these elements


```js
  const info = {};
  info["property-1"] = $(e).find(".property-1").val()
  info["property-2"] = $(e).find(".property-2").val()
```
And we retrieve the interesting data. Here it is supposed to be in two childen with the classes *.property-1* and *.property-2*.
The result is stored in an *info* object.

```js
  information.push(info);
});
```
And the results are accumulated in the information array.

prompter: Can you explain why the variables "information" and "info" have the const keyword even though they're modified?

assistant: Sure, here's a description of what each line is doing:

1. This line creates an empty array called information which will hold the data we scrape from the website.
2. This line uses jQuery to select all elements with the class "interesting-item" and stores them in the variable $el.
3. This line uses the forEach method to iterate over each element in the $el array.
4. This line creates an empty object called info.
5. This line extracts the value of the "property-1" class from the current element being iterated over and assigns it as a property to the info object with the key "property-1".
6. This line extracts the value of the "property-2" class from the current element being iterated over and assigns it as a property to the info object with the key "property-2".
7. This line adds the info object containing the scraped data to the information array.
8. The code has now finished executing, and the information array contains all of the scraped data.

prompter: As far as I know, jQuery is an external library. Since you are using the `const` keyword, this script should run in an environment that supports at least ES6. What prompted you to use a dependency like jQuery in the example you gave? For comparison, can you write a version that doesn't use jQuery or any external library for example?