better writing

Author: honzajavorek

sources/academy/platform/scraping_with_apify_and_ai/01_creating_actor.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ slug: /scraping-with-apify-and-ai/creating-actor-with-ai-chat
 unlisted: true
 ---
 
-**In this lesson we'll use ChatGPT and a few commands to create an application for watching prices on an e-commerce website.**
+**In this lesson, we'll use ChatGPT and a few commands to create an app for tracking prices on an e-commerce website.**
 
 ---
 
@@ -29,14 +29,14 @@ Try it! While the code generated will most likely work out of the box, the resul
 
 Some are technical challenges:
 
-- _No monitoring:_ Even if we knew how to setup a server or home installation so that our scraper runs regularly, we'd have little insight into whether it ran successfully, what errors or warnings occurred, how long it took, or what resources it used.
-- _Anti-scraping risks:_ If the target website detects our scraper, they can rate-limit or block us. Sure, we could run it from a coffee shop's Wi-Fi, but eventually, they'd block that too—risking seriously annoying our barista.
+- _No monitoring:_ Even if we knew how to set up a server or home installation so our scraper runs regularly, we'd have little insight into whether it ran successfully, what errors or warnings occurred, how long it took, or what resources it used.
+- _Anti-scraping risks:_ If the target website detects our scraper, they can rate-limit or block us. Sure, we could run it from a coffee shop's Wi-Fi, but eventually they'd block that too, and we'd seriously annoy our barista.
 
 <!-- TODO START rewrite this paragraph, it's really bad -->
-To address all of these, we'll use the [Apify](https://apify.com/) platform, where it's possible to deploy any program, as far as it's structured as a so-called Actor. We'll thank ourselves later if we start our program as an Actor from the very beginning.
+To address all of this, we'll use [Apify](https://apify.com/), where we can deploy any program as long as it's structured as an Actor. We'll thank ourselves later if we start as an Actor from the beginning.
 <!-- TODO END rewrite this paragraph, it's really bad -->
 
-First, we'll use a few commands to setup an Actor template, and then we'll prompt ChatGPT to generate the code necessary for scraping that Sales page.
+First, we'll use a few commands to set up an Actor template, and then we'll prompt ChatGPT to generate the code for scraping that Sales page.
 
 :::info The Warehouse store
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ In this course, we'll scrape a real e-commerce site instead of artificial playgr
 
 ## Installing Node.js
 
-With AI we don't need to learn how to code to develop a scraper. AI will write the code for us. We still need to setup our environment to be able to run that code, though.
+With AI, we don't need to learn coding before we build a scraper. AI writes the code for us. We still need to set up our environment so we can run that code.
 
 We'll develop our scraper in a mainstream programming language called JavaScript. To run command line programs written in JavaScript, we'll need a tool called Node.js.
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ The exact version numbers are not really important. If you see the versions prin
 
 ## Installing Apify CLI
 
-Now another thing we'll need is Apify CLI. It's a command line program, which works as a remote control for the Apiary platform. It'll also help us with structuring our scraper as an Actor, so that it can run on the platform.
+Now we'll install Apify CLI. It's a command-line tool that works as a remote control for the Apify platform. It also helps us structure our scraper as an Actor so it can run on the platform.
 
 Apify CLI happens to be also made in JavaScript, so we can use the npm tool we just installed to get it on our computer:
 
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ Now let's use the Apify CLI to help us kick off a new Actor:
 apify create warehouse-scraper
 ```
 
-It starts a wizard where you can choose from various options. For each option, only repeatedly use the <kbd>↵</kbd> key to confirm whatever is set as the first or default:
+It starts a wizard where you can choose from various options. For each option, press <kbd>↵</kbd> to accept the default:
 
 ```text
 ✔ Choose the programming language of your new Actor: JavaScript
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ cd "warehouse-scraper"
 
 Now we can run commands which control this new project. We didn't change the template in any way though, so it won't scrape the Warehouse store for us yet.
 
-Out of the box, the template implements a sample Actor which walks through the [crawlee.dev](https://crawlee.dev/) website and downloads all of its pages. Such thing is called _crawling_, and Crawlee is a popular tool for crawling which this Actor internally uses. Let's see if it works for us:
+Out of the box, the template includes a sample Actor that walks through the [crawlee.dev](https://crawlee.dev/) website and downloads all its pages. This process is called _crawling_, and the sample Actor uses a crawling tool called Crawlee, so its documentation is chosen as a sample target website. Let's see if we can run it:
 
 ```text
 apify run
@@ -146,43 +146,43 @@ INFO  CheerioCrawler: Finished! Total 107 requests: 107 succeeded, 0 failed. {"t
 
 We're done with commands for now, but do not close the Terminal or Command Prompt window yet, as we'll soon need it again.
 
-If you struggle to use the template wizard or to run the sample Actor, share this tutorial with [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/), add any errors you've encountered, and see if it can help you debug the issue.
+If you run into issues with the template wizard or the sample Actor, share this tutorial with [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/), include the errors you saw, and ask for help debugging.
 
 ## Scraping products
 
 Now we're ready to get our own scraper done. We'll open the `src` directory inside the Actor project and find a file called `main.js`.
 
-We'll open it in a _plain text editor_. Every operating system contains one out of the box: For Windows it's Notepad, for macOS it's TextEdit, etc.
+We'll open it in a _plain text editor_. Every operating system includes one: Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on macOS, and similar tools on Linux.
 
 :::danger Avoid rich text editors
-Do not use a _rich text editor_, such as Microsoft Word. They're great for documents aimed at humans with all their formatting and advanced features, but for editing code we'll be better off with a tool as straightforward as possible.
+Do not use a _rich text editor_, such as Microsoft Word. They're great for human-readable documents with rich formatting, but for code editing, use either dedicated coding editors, or the simplest tool possible.
 :::
 
 In the editor, we can see JavaScript code. Let's select all the code and copy to our clipboard. Then we'll open a _new ChatGPT conversation_ and start with a prompt like this:
 
 ```text
-I'm building Apify Actor which will run on the Apify platform.
-I need to modify sample template project so that it downloads
+I'm building an Apify Actor that will run on the Apify platform.
+I need to modify a sample template project so it downloads
 https://warehouse-theme-metal.myshopify.com/collections/sales,
-extracts all the products in Sales. The data should contain
+extracts all products in Sales, and returns data with
 the following information for each product:
 
 - Product name
 - Product detail page URL
 - Price
 
-Before the program ends, it should log how many products got collected.
-Code of main.js follows. You'll reply with a code block containing
+Before the program ends, it should log how many products it collected.
+Code from main.js follows. Reply with a code block containing
 a new version of that file.
 ```
 
-Use <kbd>Shift+↵</kbd> to add a few more empty lines and then paste the code from your clipboard. After submitting, the AI chat should return a large code block with a new version of `main.js`. We'll copy its contents. Now we'll go back to our text editor, and replace the original contents of `main.js` with the version of the file from ChatGPT.
+We'll use <kbd>Shift+↵</kbd> to add a few empty lines, then paste the code from our clipboard. After submitting, the AI chat should return a large code block with a new version of `main.js`. Copy it, go back to our text editor, and replace the original `main.js` content.
 
 :::info Code and colors
-Code is truly just a plain text, but some tools can display it colored. They analyze the code and display different parts of code in different colors so that human coders can better orientate in it. This is what ChatGPT does, so you'll see the code colored there. But the plain text editor you're using isn't really meant as a tool for coders, so it'll display the code just black and white. That's okay!
+Code is plain text. Some tools color it to make it easier to read, and ChatGPT does this by default. Plain text editors usually show code in black and white, and that's completely fine.
 :::
 
-When we're done, we must not forget to _save the change_ with <kbd>Ctrl+S</kbd> or, on macOS, <kbd>Cmd+S</kbd>. Now let's see if the new code works! To run our program, let's go back to the Terminal (macOS/Linux) or Command Prompt (Windows) and use the Apify CLI again:
+When we're done, we must not forget to _save the change_ with <kbd>Ctrl+S</kbd> or, on macOS, <kbd>Cmd+S</kbd>. Now let's see if the new code works. To run the program, let's go back to Terminal (macOS/Linux) or Command Prompt (Windows) and use Apify CLI again:
 
 ```text
 apify run
@@ -205,24 +205,24 @@ INFO  CheerioCrawler: Finished!
 INFO  Total products collected: 24
 ```
 
-This particular output says `Total products collected: 24`. The Sales page displays 24 products per page, and contains 50 products in total.
+This output says `Total products collected: 24`. The Sales page displays 24 products per page and contains 50 products in total.
 
-Depending on whether ChatGPT decided to walk through the pages or scrape just the first one, we might get 24 or more products, but for a start, any indication that it scrapes the products is good news!
+Depending on whether ChatGPT decided to walk through all pages or scrape just the first one, you might get 24 or more products. For now, any sign that it scraped products is good news.
 
 :::caution Debugging
-If we saw our program crashing instead, we'd have to copy any error message and send it to the conversation with ChatGPT to nail down the issue and get it working.
+If your program crashes instead, copy the error message, send it to your ChatGPT conversation, and ask for a fix.
 :::
 
 ## Exporting to CSV
 
-Our program supposedly works, but we haven't seen the data yet. Let's add an export to CSV, which is a format which any data app can read, including Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers by Apple. Let's continue our conversation with ChatGPT:
+Our program likely works, but we haven't seen the data yet. Let's add a CSV export. CSV is a format most data apps can read, including Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers. Continue your ChatGPT conversation with:
 
 ```text
 Before the program ends, I want it to export all data
 as "dataset.csv" in the current working directory.
 ```
 
-ChatGPT should return a new code block with the CSV export implemented. We'll replace the contents of `main.js` with it and again, we won't forget to save our changes. Only then, we'll re-run the scraper:
+ChatGPT should return a new code block with CSV export added. Let's replace `main.js` with that version and save our changes. Then let's run the scraper again:
 
 ```text
 apify run
@@ -238,6 +238,6 @@ In the project directory, a new file called `dataset.csv` should emerge. We can
 
 …and so on. Looks good!
 
-Well, does it? With more attention to detail, we can see that the prices include some text, which isn't exactly ideal. We'll need to improve this part in one of the next lessons. And we'll better improve our workflow as well, so that we don't have to copy and paste something all the time.
+Well, does it? If we look closely, the prices include extra text, which isn't ideal. We'll improve this in one of the next lessons. We'll also improve the workflow so we don't have to keep copying and pasting.
 
-Despite a few flaws, we managed to create a first working prototype of an application for watching prices, with no coding knowledge. And with some minimal effort in command line, we've got something we can immediately to deploy to a platform where it can run regularly and reliably. In the next lesson we'll do exactly that.
+Despite a few flaws, we've successfully created a first working prototype of a price-watching app with no coding knowledge. And with a bit of extra command-line work, we now have something we can deploy to a platform where it can run regularly and reliably. In the next lesson, we'll do exactly that.