Integrating Python and Elixir for Web Scraping

In a recent development, Marcelo and his team encountered a need to integrate Python scripts for web scraping with their primary development language, Elixir. Despite the availability of sophisticated web scraping tools in Elixir, they decided to use their pre-existing Python solution. Marcelo outlines the process of seamlessly adding the Python script to the 'priv' directory of an Elixir project, as per Phoenix's directory structure recommendations, and presents two methods of executing the script from Elixir. The first approach involves directly calling the Python script using 'System.cmd/3', and the second, more complex but asynchronous method, utilizes GenServer to run the script through Erlang Ports. Marcelo provides detailed code snippets and explanations for both methods, highlighting the trade-offs and encouraging readers to choose based on their specific requirements.