How can I go from basic Python to a practical web scraper project?

[JohnB]

I've been learning Python through online courses for a few months and I can handle basic scripts, but I'm struggling to make the jump to building a complete, useful application. I want to create a small web scraper that saves data to a file, but I get stuck on error handling, organizing my code into functions, and using external libraries effectively. For those who are self-taught, what are the best intermediate Python tutorials or project-based learning resources that focus on practical application development and professional coding practices, not just syntax?

[Kenneth37]

Nice goal. Start with a concrete, small project: a web scraper that saves data to CSV/JSON. Build it with a clean, modular structure: a fetcher using requests, a parser with BeautifulSoup or lxml, and a writer that emits CSV/JSON. Add robust error handling: a custom ScraperError, timeouts, retries with exponential backoff (tenacity works well), and logging to surface failures. Organize code into modules (fetcher.py, parser.py, storage.py) and practice packaging with Poetry or a simple setup.py. For tutorials, Real Python’s intermediate posts and tutorials on exception handling and building scrapers are solid, and Corey Schafer’s YouTube videos cover practical Python topics from requests to file I/O. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Python is excellent for packaging, virtual environments, and testing. If you eventually scale, look at Scrapy for production-quality scrapers. Want a starter project structure or a 4-week plan tailored to your goals?