Get a heads up when a new item hits the Hacker News front page

hn_new.py

# Get a heads up when a new item hits the Hacker News front page

import requests
import sys
from time import sleep
from random import randint

def fetchItems():
  res = requests.get("https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/topstories.json")
  assert(res.status_code == 200)
  items = res.json()
  return set(items[:30])

items = fetchItems()

while True:
  old_items = items
  items = fetchItems()
  new_items = items - old_items
  if len(new_items) > 0:
    # There's a new item!
    for item_id in new_items:
      print(f"New item: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id={item_id}")
  else:
    print("No new items", file=sys.stderr)
  sleep(randint(10, 60))