Issue 1: Research and select web scraping tools.

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1. Beautiful Soup and Requests (Python):

   • Pros: Highly customizable, great for small to medium projects, extensive documentation.
   • Cons: Not as fast for large-scale scraping, struggles with JavaScript-heavy sites.
   • Use case: Ideal for simple HTML pages and when precise control over scraping is needed.

2. Scrapy (Python):

   • Pros: Fast, scalable, built-in support for asynchronous operations, and extensive built-in capabilities.
   • Cons: Steeper learning curve, overkill for simple projects.
   • Use case: Best for complex and large-scale scraping projects.

3. Selenium (Python, Java, C#, Ruby):

   • Pros: Can interact with JavaScript, mimics human browsing behavior, supports multiple languages.
   • Cons: Slower compared to other tools because it controls a web browser.
   • Use case: Necessary for websites that heavily rely on JavaScript.

4. Puppeteer (JavaScript):

   • Pros: Handles modern web applications using JavaScript, run by Google Chrome or Chromium.
   • Cons: JavaScript only, more resource-intensive.
   • Use case: Excellent for scraping modern, dynamic web applications.

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Recommendation: Scrapy

For the purpose of automating the grant application process, Scrapy is recommended due to its efficiency, scalability, and ability to handle both simple and complex websites. It's particularly useful when dealing with a significant amount of data extraction and when you anticipate scaling the operations.