simple twitter feed in python

twitter.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import getpass
import urllib, urllib2
import base64
import json
import time

def fetch(uri, username='', password='', data=None):

  headers = {}
  if username and password:
    headers['Authorization'] = 'Basic ' + base64.b64encode('%s:%s' % (username,
        password))
    headers['User-Agent'] = 'BashoProServTwitterFeed'

  req = urllib2.Request(uri, headers=headers)
  if data:
    req.add_data(urllib.urlencode(data))
  f = urllib2.urlopen(req)
  return f


def main():

  username = raw_input('Twitter Username: ')
  password = getpass.getpass('Twitter Password: ')
#  track = raw_input('Tracking keyword? ')
  print

  try:
#    f = fetch('http://stream.twitter.com/1/statuses/filter.json', username,
#        password, {'track': track})
    f = fetch ('https://stream.twitter.com/1/statuses/sample.json', username, password)
#    print 'Tracking... [Control + C to stop]'
    print
    while True:
      line = f.readline()
      if line:
        status = json.loads(line)
        try:
          # user, time, message, message type (if it exists)
          # what makes a user unique?  what makes a message unique?  (id, id_str)
          # bucket by n minutes (30)
          print '%s: %s' % (status['user']['screen_name'], status['id_str'] + "::" + status['created_at'])
        except KeyError, e:
          # something not handled yet
          print '* FIXME *', line
      else:
        time.sleep(0.1)
  except urllib2.HTTPError, e:
    # Deal with unexpected disconnection (do this later)
    raise e
  except KeyboardInterrupt:
    # End
    f.close()
    print 'Bye!'

if __name__ == '__main__':
  main()