Intro to Programming and Data Science (Fall 2024)/Reddit authentication setup

We're going to be using Reddit as a context for learning to gather web data.

Like many APIs, in order to use the Reddit API, you need a developer account. This is pretty easy on Reddit.

1. Create a reddit account at https://www.reddit.com/
2. Go to https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps and click "Create an app"
3. Enter the following (or similar):
   • Name: COM 674 Project App
   • Description: This bot will be used to collect data as part of a course at Purdue University.
   • About URL: LEAVE BLANK
   • Redirect URL: http://localhost:8080 (We won't actually be using this)
   • For the application type, select "Script" and submit.
4. Create a new .py file called reddit_authentication.py that looks something like:

   client_id = "_anb-dsxipuqf7jA9wzeMqZ"
   client_secret = "4kXxiBOFdPY1HBw4843sgm6oiTYbWkFgz"
   user_agent = "python:COM 674 class project:v1.0 (by /u/yourusername)"
   username = "yourusername"
   password = "yourpassword"

• The client_id is found at the top left of the apps page, under your app's name. The client secret is right under that.

We'll use this authentication file in the future.