Article Outline

1. What is an API? What is a web API, and how is it relevant to data science?
2. The anatomy of an API request
3. Unearthing the secrets of Reddit — A walkthrough with the Reddit web API using Python
4. Discovering hidden APIs with developer tools
5. API etiquette and best practices

What is an API?

If you have ever spent any time programming, doing data science or web development, chances are that you have come across the term “API”. Even to a complete layperson, the term may ring a bell. …

“Reality TV” is the greatest misnomer of all time. We’re led to believe that the contestants on The Voice are truly novice singers picked up off the street with no professional background or training, or that those cooking in Master Chef always happen to finish their dishes exactly as the time runs out. We are spoon fed narratives and storylines which are supposed to be relatable on some level, because these storylines are acted out by people ‘just like ourselves’, and they arise from ostensibly non-contrived situations. In truth, there is nothing real about reality television.

However, there is a…

I’m going to tell you the story of the most influential photograph ever taken by mankind.

This is a photograph of the earth, taken from above the lunar landscape. Earthrise. It was snapped by astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve, 1968, during the Apollo 8 lunar mission. Space exploration was still in its incipient stages, and man had yet to land on the moon, yet this was the first time we were able to see ourselves from this far-flung vantage point.

50 years later, the photograph has been printed on numerous postal stamps, and has been deemed by Galen Rowell…

“Love is when you throw away a red shell in Mario Kart to protect your boyfriend.”

This is something my girlfriend said to me as we were sitting playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch one lazy afternoon. She obviously intended this in the most facetious way possible, but after a couple more races and when my fingers began to tire from mashing the controller buttons, I began to realise the interesting truth behind this pithy statement.

Love at it’s core is about one thing: self-sacrifice. When we think of maternal love, we imagine a mother sacrificing her body for…