tfs-demos

Python challenge

The challenge

I want a GitHub repo that contains a python script, along with any associated files, e.g.:

• An .env file
• A requirements.txt file
• A .gitignore file
• Instructions for setting up the repo, in a readme.md file

I want the Python script to make a request to an API of your choice. (It could be an API you’ve created, or one that you find online.). It would probably help if the API endpoint returns a different value every time it’s called, e.g. a random piece of text.

Every time you call the Python script, it should make the HTTP request to the API, do something with the result (e.g. if it’s a JSON file then select the actual content we’re interested in), and print it in the terminal.

On top of that, it should also append a line to the end of a text file

(The text file should be listed in the .gitignore file too)

---

Solution

Directory Structure:

my_github_repo/
├── .env
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
├── requirements.txt
├── script.py
└── log.txt (this will be added to .gitignore)

.env:

API_URL=https://icanhazdadjoke.com/

.gitignore:

log.txt
.env
venv

README.md:

# My GitHub Repo

This repository contains a Python script that makes a request to a random joke API and logs the result.

## Setup Instructions

(copy these instructions in!)

requirements.txt:

requests
python-dotenv

script.py:

import os
import requests
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load environment variables from .env file
load_dotenv()

API_URL = os.getenv('API_URL')
LOG_FILE = 'log.txt'

def get_random_joke():
    response = requests.get(API_URL)
    if response.status_code == 200:
        data = response.json()
        return data.get('content')
    else:
        return None

def log_joke(joke):
    with open(LOG_FILE, 'a') as f:
        f.write(joke + '\n')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    joke = get_random_joke()
    if joke:
        print(joke)
        log_joke(joke)
    else:
        print('Failed to retrieve joke')

---

Steps to run the solution

Create the files above

Create a virtual environment and activate it:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows use `venv\Scripts\activate`

Install the required packages:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Create a .env file in the root of the repository and add the API URL:

API_URL=https://icanhazdadjoke.com/

1. Run the script:

   python script.py
   

Every time you run the script it should add a new line to the text file.