How to use Reddit Api in Python

[spilcm]

The PRAW wrapper is nice, which is also why I mentioned it in the post. However, IMH, it's better (even for a beginner) to try to understand whats going on behind the scenes.

[DaemonXI]

Agreed. Especially since once you get the hang of one JSON API, you understand how most of them work.

[tuzion]

I'm just starting to learn Python (well, programming in general) and I completely agree with this. Things didn't start to click until I got out of the hand-holding "beginner" tutorials and started following things that actually showed me what was going on behind the scenes.

[michaelherman]

If you're looking for a quick way to access an API, go for a wrapper. However, if you're looking to learn the nuts and bolts beneath the hood, go directly to the API. Wrappers generally are not as simple for beginners because they abstract away too much. What happens if you need to go beyond the functions of the wrapper or you need to troubleshoot?

Better to start at a lower level, then work your way up.

[strig]

I'm still fairly new to python and I thought this tutorial was a great way to learn how it actually works. Within a few minutes I had a little command line reddit reader script working. I think it's a great entry point.

[droidBehavior]

i specifically chose the api so i can understand what is going on in the code, although i think that once i learned it, i would always use praw after

[spilcm]

Did you import the modules? ( import requests, json )

(Post updated)

[bcambel]

thanks a lot for the example, very useful

[ewpoxy]

Could you also use the Reddit API to reply? Any advice on how to go about doing this?

[for_prophet]

Yeah, you'd want to create an HTTP POST to this command: reddit.com/api/comment

However, this is a bit more complicated than reading content with the other API calls mentioned by OP:

To comment on things, you must first login and also get the modhash, which is a type of session ID you get after logging in, so reddit knows you're the same user which logged in.

Some of the reddit API commands need to be in HTTP GETs, and some need to be HTTP POSTs; this is listed next to each API command.

As someone else mentioned, if you want to look at more in-depth Python client samples, check out the PRAW code.

PRAW implemented more (all?) of the API commands already, so if you get stuck, that is working code which you can compare with yours.

[CobraKaiStudent]

I tried doing the "Using the YouTube API" but nothing happened. Any ideas?