Interacting with APIs in Python: A Comprehensive Guide to Requests, Aiohttp, and HTTPX

0:00 Intro

The video discusses how to interact with APIs in Python using three libraries: Requests, Aiohttp, and HTTPX. The presenter offers a free guide on software design and emphasizes supporting lesser-known libraries.

0:45 Popularity

• Requests: The oldest and most popular library, known for its simplicity.
• Aiohttp: Newer, supports concurrency, allowing multiple requests simultaneously.
• HTTPX: The newest, also supports concurrency and is growing in popularity.

2:05 Requests

Requests allows simple HTTP operations (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) but is not optimized for performance. It creates a new connection for each request, which can be improved by using sessions for connection pooling. Sessions can significantly speed up requests.

6:43 Aiohttp

Aiohttp prioritizes performance and requires sessions by default. It is more complex than Requests due to additional boilerplate but offers better performance, especially for concurrent requests.

8:40 HTTPX

HTTPX is compatible with Requests but offers connection pooling through clients, improving speed. It also supports async functionality for even faster concurrent requests, which can be implemented using Python's async and await keywords.

10:26 Concurrent Requests

Using concurrency with HTTPX or Aiohttp can drastically reduce response times. The video demonstrates how to implement concurrent requests in HTTPX, explaining the importance of connection pooling and the potential issue of hitting rate limits.

13:33 Licenses

All three libraries can be used commercially. Requests and Aiohttp use the Apache 2.0 license, while HTTPX uses the BSD 3-Clause license. The presenter explains the differences in legal protections provided by these licenses.

14:49 Outro

The video wraps up by encouraging viewers to like the video and explore more about concurrency in Python.