> (2) Is there something like python's `requests` lib?

For HTTP (etc) requests?

There is HTTP.jl which I have never had problems with; tons of packages use it. I have used it to wrap a ton of different REST APIs etc.

And in 1.6, as mentioned, there is the new Downloads standard library, based on libcurl. Despide the name, I believe it can be used more generally than simply downloading things. Can also be used as a normal library in Julia 1.3+ https://github.com/JuliaLang/Downloads.jl

And there are several other projects