Class 3
The ETL process: Extraction from APIs
Description
This session introduces application programming interfaces (APIs) as a method for programmatically extracting data from external systems and data providers. APIs are important because they allow analysts to obtain structured, reproducible, and potentially large-scale data without relying on manual downloads.
Motivation
How do we acquire data programmatically?
Review
The prior session introduced ETL as a general process for moving from raw data to analysis-ready information. This session focuses specifically on the first stage of the ETL process, extracting data, and introduces programmatic access as an alternative to manually acquiring files and datasets.