Search code examples
c#jsongarbage-collectionreddit

Downloaded string from Reddit page with is the same for about a minute straight of checking even though it should have changed

The following C# code downloads the JSON of a Reddit random page. It is correctly downloading and looping if the value found is not valid. However, the returned string is the same for about a minute straight of checking. Does anybody know if this is a memory problem, a Reddit API problem, or a webClient problem?

string src = "";
while(src.endsWith(<someString>))
{
    src = dl(<valid site>);
}

void dl(string st)
{
    string json = new WebClient().DownloadString(string);
    ...
    string src = <manipulation of json>;
    ...
    return src;
}
Solution

  • If you're fetching the same reddit url, you are hitting the akamai cache. While you can bypass the akamai cache by visiting api.reddit.com instead of www.reddit.com, your program should respect reddit's API rules, which include, "don't hit the same page more than once per 30 seconds."