APIs & the Web

Python isn't limited to your local laptop. With HTTP clients, your Python scripts can query AI models, fetch real-time weather feeds, send automated Slack notifications, and interact with global cloud backends.

Making HTTP Requests in Python

import requests

url = "https://api.github.com/users/octocat"

response = requests.get(url, timeout=5.0)

if response.status_code == 200:

data = response.json()

print(f"User: {data['name']}, Public Repos: {data['public_repos']}")

Always provide a timeout=... parameter to prevent slow or unresponsive servers from hanging your Python program forever.

Quick Summary

Use HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to communicate with external web endpoints.
Next, we parse and serialize data with JSON & Data Exchange.