HTTP requests

What a session covers

The tutor works through these with you, in conversation and code. A session ends when you have shown them, not when a video does.

1. Explain what a request sends and what a response contains
2. Write a GET request with requests, including a timeout, and read the status and body
3. Pass query parameters and headers without building the URL by hand

In practice

A few lines that show HTTP requests doing its job.

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.github.com/repos/python/cpython",
    params={"per_page": 1},
    timeout=10,
)
print(response.status_code)           # 200
print(response.headers["content-type"])
print(response.json()["stargazers_count"])

The common mistake

What to know first

Your roadmap puts these before HTTP requests, unless you already know them.

• Imports
• Dictionary lookups

How it stays learned

Once a session shows you understand HTTP requests, it comes back for review. Each review takes a minute and tells the memory model how well you still know it.

1. Day 3First recall, while it is fresh
2. Day 7Second, a week on
3. Day 18Last, when it has settled

Where it leads

Topics that build on HTTP requests.

• JSON data
• Handling API errors