Editing Community Data Science Course (Spring 2023)/Week 5 coding challenges (section)

== #2 Starting on your projects ==

{{notice|If you are planning on collecting data from Reddit, please look into using the [https://pushshift.io Pushshift API] instead of the default Reddit API. The Pushshift API is not as up-to-date but it is targeted toward data scientists, not app-makers, and is likely much better suited to our needs in the class. That said, take a look at both!}}

In this section, you will take your first steps towards working with your project API. Many of these questions will not involve code, so just mark down your answers in cells in your notebook. 

One very useful trick is to convert cells into "markdown" mode. You can do in the menu with ''Cell→Cell Type→Markdown'' or you can just type <code>m</code> when the cell is selected but not being edited (just press <code>Esc</code> if you are editing to switch out of edit mode). Clicking <code>y</code> turns it back into code. Markdown is just normal text but if you want to do fancier stuff like links or formatting you can look at this [https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/ Markdown Cheat Sheet].

Feel free to document any findings you think might be useful as you continue to work on your project; you might thank yourself later!

# Identify an API you will (or might!) want to use for your project.
# Find documentation for that API and include links in your notebook.
# What are the API endpoints you plan to use? What are the parameters you will need to use at that endpoint?
# Is there a Python module that exists that helps make contact with the API? (See if you can you find example code on how to use it). 
## If so, download it, install it, and import it into your notebook. 
# Does the API require authentication? Does it need to be approved?
## If so, sign up for a developer account and get your keys. (Do this early because it often takes time for these accounts to be approved.)
# Does the API list rate limits? Does it make any requests about how you should use it?
# Make a single API call, either directly using requests or using the Python module you have used. It doesn't matter for what. The goal is that you can get ''something'''.
# '''IMPORTANT:''' If you have included any API keys in your notebook, ''make a copy of your notebook, delete the cell where you include the keys, before you upload the copy of the notebook.'' We'll show you some tricks for hiding this information going forward.