Core Python Programming

19.2. Web Surfing with Python: Creating Simple Web Clients

One thing to keep in mind is that a browser is only one type of Web client. Any application that makes a request for data from a Web server is considered a “client.” Yes, it is possible to create other clients which retrieve documents or data off the Internet. One important reason to do this is that a browser provides only limited capacity, i.e., it is used primarily for viewing and interacting with Web sites. A client program, on the other hand, has the ability to do more—it can not only download data, it can also store it, manipulate it, or perhaps even transmit it to another location or application.

Applications which use the urllib module to download or access information on the Web ...