# Some Links on How to Make Bots Easily *Based on an improv demo workshop I "gave" at ELO2017 when the presenter didn't come.* For a non-progammer, the easiest method I know of is [Cheap Bots Done Quick](http://cheapbotsdonequick.com/) by @v21 based on Tracery.js grammar by @GalaxyKate (Kate Compton). The example code we created in the tutorial is shown in the image below:  All "stories" start with the origin, and the #hashtag# words are expanded and substituted. There's an [online Tracery tutorial here](http://www.crystalcodepalace.com/traceryTut.html). (The much more complicated rat bio app I showed integrates a bunch of data sources -- it's [here](http://bl.ocks.org/arnicas/d210166c6d302da09397).) ## Putting SVG/Images in a Bot with CheapBotsDoneQuick 2 Tutorials from @v21: * [cartoons with captions](https://github.com/derekahmedzai/cheapbotsdonequick/blob/master/new-yorker.md) * [Text and images, like inspirational posters](https://github.com/derekahmedzai/cheapbotsdonequick/blob/master/svg-tracery-image-bots.md) ## Using Code - a Python Example The YeatsBot I had made that we re-wrote used [this Python code in my repo](https://github.com/arnicas/hello-world-bot). I made it by following [this tutorial](https://spinecone.gitbooks.io/build-a-bot-workshop/content/) by @spine_cone. I modified it a little to make the text extract from the book a little nicer. The structure of the code is that the bot.py code tweets excerpts from a book.txt file, text taken from a random location and less than 140 characters. The secret twitter authorization keys are not shown in the repo. They can be found on your [twitter app page](https://apps.twitter.com/) if you "Create a new app." Your keys are on the "Keys and Access Tokens" tab. These keys are hand-uploaded or typed into [Python Anywhere](https://www.pythonanywhere.com/), which was hosting the bot before we turned it into a new bot using CheapBots. "Hosting" means that the code was uploaded to their site, which has a web server, and it is set up to run once a day automatically. ## Some Bots I Showed * [Newfound Planets](https://twitter.com/I_Find_Planets?lang=en) by @cbquist (I think Tracery?) * [A Strange Voyage](https://twitter.com/str_voyage) by @joebaxterwebb (simple but compelling, not sure how it's coded) * [Phantom Funhouse](https://twitter.com/phantomfunhouse) by @tinysubversions (advanced and mysterious) Here's my [Medium newsletter](https://medium.com/@lynn_72328/things-i-think-are-awesome-ep-2-bots-meteors-8de894aa64d9) that had a couple in it. ## More Tutorial Links Here's [some introductory material on making bots](https://botwiki.org/tutorials/how-to-make-a-twitter-bot-definitive-guide/). [This is a good long list of twitter bot tutorials](https://botwiki.org/tutorials/twitterbots/#tutorials-python). Most still require learning or using a little bit of code. ## Add Links for Newbies, Especially Non-Coders Should I add some links here? Did I miss any non-coding important resources?