Python’s Built-in HTTP Libraries

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What, You Mean There Are More Than One?!

Listen up, If you’re a Python programmer and you haven’t heard of the built-in HTTP libraries in Python…well, let me just say that you might be living under a rock or something. But hey, we all have our quirks.

Anyway, for those who are new to this whole “HTTP” thing (which is basically how web pages work), there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Python has built-in libraries specifically designed to handle HTTP requests and responses. The bad news? There are more than one!

Yes, you heard me right. More than one. And if you ask me, this is just another example of how confusing Python can be sometimes. But hey, at least we have options, right? Let’s take a look at the two main contenders: `urllib` and `requests`.

To begin, `urllib`. This library has been around for ages (since 1998 to be exact) and is part of Python’s standard library. It allows you to open URLs, read their contents, and even send data back in response. Here’s an example:

# Import the urllib library and alias it as "req"
import urllib.request as req

# Define the URL to be accessed
url = "https://www.example.com"

# Use the urlopen function from the urllib library to open the URL and assign the response to the "response" variable
response = req.urlopen(url)

# Use the read function on the response object to read the contents of the URL and decode it into a string, then assign it to the "data" variable
data = response.read().decode()

# Print the data variable, which contains the contents of the URL
print(data)

Pretty straightforward, right? Well, not exactly. You see, `urllib` has some limitations that might make you want to switch to the newer and more popular library: `requests`.

First of all, `requests` is much easier to use than `urllib`, especially for beginners. Here’s an example using `requests`:

# Import the requests library
import requests

# Define the URL to be accessed
url = "https://www.example.com"

# Send a GET request to the URL and store the response in a variable
response = requests.get(url)

# Retrieve the content of the response and store it in a variable
data = response.content

# Print the data retrieved from the URL
print(data)

As you can see, the syntax is much simpler and more intuitive. But that’s not all! `requests` also has some cool features like automatic JSON parsing (which means less code for you to write), built-in support for cookies, and even a progress bar when downloading large files.

So why would anyone still use `urllib`? Well, there are a few reasons. First of all, it’s been around longer than `requests`, so some people might be more familiar with its syntax. Secondly, it can handle certain edge cases that `requests` doesn’t (like handling HTTP/1.0 servers).

But for most use cases, I would highly recommend using `requests`. It’s easier to learn and use, has better documentation, and is generally a more popular choice in the Python community. Plus, it’s actively maintained by a team of developers who are constantly improving its features and fixing bugs.

Two built-in HTTP libraries for Python: `urllib` and `requests`. Which one should you use? Well, that depends on your needs and preferences. But if I had to choose just one, I would go with `requests`. It’s the newer, more popular choice, and has some cool features that make it easier to work with than `urllib`.

But hey, at least we have options, right? And who knows…maybe someday Python will simplify things even further by combining these two libraries into one. Later !

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