Python, HTTP GET/POST, and Pocket API team up to do what the GUI could never do.

Today marks my first self-directed project of 2020 — using Python, JSON, and HTTP GET/POST requests to tackle the ancient Pocket API (last updated in 2012).

Background to my situation:

• My IFTTT recipe sent top posts from r/todayilearned to Pocket daily for over 3 years, generating over 5,000 entries
• Pocket is unusable, especially with their clunky bulk edit interface (there is no “select all” button!)
• I wish to move all entries tagged “TIL” to Google Sheets and delete them from Pocket

Biggest Takeaways:

• In about three hours, I went from zero experience with API’s and HTTP POST/GET to a tangible working Python script
• Project-based learning is the most satisfying approach to learn coding
• Automation with Python is way easier than you think

How To Use

Source code may be found here: https://github.com/bmw02002turbo/Pocket-Scraping.

Prerequisites: Set up a consumer key under Pocket Developer, install requests Python Module through pip.

1. Modify “0. Pocket Web TIL Scraper.json” to match the properties of Pocket entries that you want to delete.
2. Run “1. Post Request to Retrieve Pocket.py” to generate JSON Data of matching Pocket entries as “2. JSON Data (Pocket Articles Tagged TIL).json”.
3. Run “3. Generate Deletion Commands.py” to generate delete commands for Pocket entries as “4. JSON Delete Commands (Pocket Articles Tagged TIL).json”.
4. Run “5. Post Request to Delete Pocket.py” to delete and generate server output as “6. Post Request Output.txt”.
5. Hopefully your output file should generate “action_results”:[true,true,…]∎! Enjoy!

What I did:

First, copy favorite Pocket entries to a Google Sheet:

1. Sent the Following HTTP Get Request:

Request URL: https://getpocket.com/v3/get
Header: “Content-Type: application/json”
Body:

{“consumer_key”:”<consumer_key>",

“access_token”:"<access_token>",

“favorite”:”1",

“tag”:”til”,

“detailType”:”simple”}

2. Received JSON data from aforementioned request

3. Scraped the “resolved_title” (and any other desired property) off each object in “list” and copied them to a Google Sheet. ∎

Second and finally, delete all Pocket entries tagged “TIL”:

1. Sent the HTTP Get Request (same as above, but removed “favorite” line)
2. Received JSON data from aforementioned request
3. Created a Python script to generate delete commands for each entity in 2), outputting commands to a JSON file

4. Received JSON delete commands outputted from Python script in 3)

5. Created a Python script to use delete commands in 4) and generate success/failure in an output file

6. Enjoy when the output file is generated with “action_results”:[true,true,…]∎

Since completing Harvard’s CS50, this has been the most satisfying coding project I have done yet.

Conclusion

If you know Python, seriously consider using it with API’s/modules to to automate your tasks. Doing so saves you time with that tasks and teaches you Python along the way.

Practical Automation: Deleting 15,000+ Pocket Entries by Tag with Python was originally published in Optim on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

To those of us who didn’t get what we wanted during this long day — I’m here for you.

You worked really hard and I just wanted to let you know it’s okay. It’s okay if you feel a little down. It’s okay to feel a little discouraged. And it’s okay to feel a little heartbroken. I know what it feels like to invest a lot into something and not get what you want (or even stranger, invest barely anything and get something better). Those mixed messages make it really hard to justify trying hard and giving our best all the time.

But I just wanted to let you know that you have been putting in so much work and we have all been rooting for you. We are here for you — whether you need to rant, vent, or laugh at any time. In the face of adversity, the biggest challenge is if you will root for yourself.

It’s okay to feel discouraged now. But feel better and gather the strength to fight on tomorrow.

Wishing you the best.

— Braden

Today is Ivy Day, and not all of us got what we wanted was originally published in Optim on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Introduction

To all students and staff of Arcadia High School, thank you all so much. I am so utterly grateful for everyone’s support for my speech to the student body today. To all the people who have personally messaged me, approached me in the hallways — even asked me “hi, how are you doing?” as a direct (albeit hilarious) callback to my speech — your support and reaching out means the world to me.

To know that I have impacted someone’s life for the better, and to hear from some that it was a great speech, to even the best speech, is the inspiration that keeps me going every single day. It is easy to go fast alone, but it is even more exciting to go far together. And I can’t wait for what’s coming next. Here’s a transcript of my 9/11 Assembly Speech.

The Speech

[Intro]

Thank you all so much and hello Apaches! My name is Braden Wong, your ASB President. Here at ASB, we believe in building a community for all of us. That is why I am honored to be here today as we commemorate September 11, 2001, with this quote from Dr. Seuss:

“To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”

We overestimate what few things we can do to ten people, but underestimate what enormous things we can for just one. Because one person might not change the world, but changing the world for one person happens every day.

Teachers and staff, each student here is only one of thousands you’ve watched grow, but to us, you might be the only ones to ever inspire us. The first ones to help us find our passions. The only ones to mentor us. And students, we are the world to each other on so many levels — because we make new experiences together, and that’s something that’s so incredibly precious.

Believe in the impact each of you has on one person.

[A friend]

A few months ago, I saw a friend who I hadn’t seen for a long time. I went up and asked, “Hey man, what’s up? How’s life?” We started chatting, and I noticed he was crying. I asked him about it, and he suddenly burst into tears. I’ll never forget the words he said afterwards.

“I’m sorry, it’s just nobody has ever asked me that before.”

And at that moment, I cried too.

To think that I can go out and say “hi” to hundreds of people every single day, and to think that every single day, he never gets to hear those simple words even once? — broke my heart.

To me, he is one of hundreds, but to him, I am one of one — the only one who says “hi”, who asks “how are you doing?”, who may even acknowledge that he exists. So I need to make it count — because trust me, I know what it feels like to be alone not by choice, and I don’t want anyone to ever feel that way again.

[A hero]

On September 11, 2001, fire patrolman Keith Roma made the decision to go inside the North Tower to help others out not once, not twice, but four times.

To him, each person in that building was one of hundreds who needed saving. But to each of the over 200 lives he personally escorted and saved, he was one of one: the only one, the only hero, who came for them in their greatest time of need.

And to his father Arnold, who served side-by-side with him in the same department for years and even on that very day, he was one of one too. The only son who made him proud and laid his life serving his country. The only son that wouldn’t be returning home that day. Because on that day, Keith didn’t just serve, but made the ultimate sacrifice.

On that day, one man, and thousands of other first responders, became the world for tens of thousands of people. Today, we salute Keith and all other first responders for their outstanding service, because a normal day to them is not a normal day for any one of us.

[A request]

Friends, your world may compose of hundreds, if not thousands, of people, but for one of them, their world might only have you. Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change themselves.

I’m not asking you, one person, to change the world for everyone. I’m asking you, everyone, to change the world for one person.

Because one person is all that it takes.

[A method]

If you want to make friends, I have only one rule for you to follow: make people feel better when you’re with them than when you’re not.

Because to quote Maya Angelou, “people will forget what you said and what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And the feelings you create when you’re around is what truly makes the difference.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, I have only one question: how about you stand up for a person?

Be there for them, not just in their greatest times, but their greatest time of need.

Because the crowd may not remember you, may forget you, but that one person in the corner of the room who nobody else listened or even cared about? The one person who you advocated for? They will never forget you.

And if you want to change someone’s world, I have only one action for you: just sincerely ask someone today, “hi, how are you doing?”

Because “hi, how are you doing?” is not meaningless smalltalk, but the most meaningful question, that 7.7 billion other people in this world will never even bother asking them.

Because “hi, how are you doing?” is caring about someone enough to ask them. Care that brings us closer together.

[Closing]

In closing, today, let’s make a difference. Thank your teacher, our custodians, our first responders, because to you, it could just be a second from your day, but to them, it could be the second that makes theirs. And thank you, for being the most amazing students and staff this campus could ask for. To the world, we are just one school, but to each other, we will always be Apaches. Thank you.

Transcript for My 9/11 All-School Assembly Speech was originally published in Optim on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.