Build your own Twitter bot: a gentle and fun introduction to Python
In this hands-on workshop, you will get introduced to the Python programming language through a fun project you can show off. With a starter kit of Python code provided by workshop leaders, you’ll customize your Twitter bot and see it send tweets out into the world. Why learn Python? It’s a great “gateway” language to programming. It’s commonly used, very human-readable, and especially suited to text processing tasks you may come across in library work. Why bots? Bots work behind the scenes of the web. They can tell us the weather forecast when we ask (hey Siri), they systematically fix broken links on Wikipedia, they summarize financial data (Forbes), and on Twitter, whimsical bots can add a little bit of fun to the Internet. (Our favorites include @JustToSayBot, @TwoHeadlines, and @big_ben_clock.) By the end of this workshop, you will have a functional bot of your very own and an elementary understanding of Python.Open to everyone who has an interest in learning about programming. No prior experience needed.
