Added sample code for querying the HN API in node. I used node because it takes me much less time but many other languages would work. I wanted to demonstrate the ease of hackernews API.

In order to use, install node.
Run npm install in the repo to generate the node_modules folder.
run node index.js
You should see the HN top stories logged out.

.gitignore

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+node_modules/

index.js

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+const fetch = require("node-fetch");
+
+// implemented from: https://github.com/HackerNews/API
+
+const HN_PREFIX = "https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/";
+
+const TOP_STORIES = "topstories";
+const ITEM = "item";
+
+function hnFetch(type, id = "") {
+  const url = id
+    ? `${HN_PREFIX}${type}/${id}.json`
+    : `${HN_PREFIX}${type}.json`;
+  return fetch(url, {
+    method: "GET",
+    headers: {
+      "Content-Type": "application/json"
+    }
+  })
+    .then(res => {
+      if (!isStatusOk(res.status)) {
+        throw res;
+      }
+      return res.json();
+    })
+    .then(res => res)
+    .catch(error => console.error(error));
+}
+
+function isStatusOk(statusCode) {
+  return statusCode === 200 || statusCode === 304;
+}
+async function main() {
+  const storyIds = await hnFetch(TOP_STORIES);
+  const stories = await Promise.all(
+    storyIds.slice(0, 20).map(storyId => hnFetch(ITEM, storyId))
+  );
+
+  console.log(stories.map(story => { delete story.kids; return story; }));
+}
+
+main();

package-lock.json

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+{
+  "name": "hacker-news-cli",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "lockfileVersion": 1,
+  "requires": true,
+  "dependencies": {
+    "node-fetch": {
+      "version": "2.3.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/node-fetch/-/node-fetch-2.3.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-MOd8pV3fxENbryESLgVIeaGKrdl+uaYhCSSVkjeOb/31/njTpcis5aWfdqgNlHIrKOLRbMnfPINPOML2CIFeXA=="
+    }
+  }
+}

package.json

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+{
+  "name": "hacker-news-cli",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "description": "TODO",
+  "main": "index.js",
+  "scripts": {
+    "test": "mocha ."
+  },
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "ssh://git@irc.anarchyplanet.org:2222/notnull/hacker-news-cli.git"
+  },
+  "author": "",
+  "license": "MIT",
+  "dependencies": {
+    "node-fetch": "^2.3.0"
+  }
+}