downloader.py

import os
import time
import arrow
import requests

API = "https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/election-night-api/tests/default/projected_winners.json"

NUM_TIMES = 4
TIME_TO_SLEEP = int(60/NUM_TIMES)

for i in range(NUM_TIMES):

    print(f'running iteration {i+1} of {NUM_TIMES}')

    timestamp = arrow.utcnow().to('US/Eastern').isoformat()

    # get last response
    try:
        with open('latest.json', 'rb') as f:
            last_response = f.read()
    except IOError:
        last_response = None

    # get new response
    response = requests.get(API)

    # check and save if different
    if response.content != last_response:
        print(f'response was different, writing file at {timestamp}...')
        with open(f'latest.json', 'wb') as f:
            f.write(response.content)
        with open(f'{timestamp}.json', 'wb') as f:
            f.write(response.content)
    else:
      print("response was the same, not saving")

    if i != NUM_TIMES-1:
        print(f"sleeping for {TIME_TO_SLEEP}...")
        time.sleep(TIME_TO_SLEEP)