import tweepy

auth = tweepy.OAuthHandler('consumer key', 'consumer secret')
auth.set_access_token('access key', 'access secret')
api = tweepy.API(auth)

user= "karpathy" #me :)

#limit per hour is 350 calls
limit= api.rate_limit_status()['remaining_hits']
print 'you have', limit, 'API calls remaining until next hour'

#retrieve only the latest 100 of people who I follow
#COST: 1 API call = 100 users
for friend in tweepy.Cursor(api.friends, id=user).items(100):
    #friend is an object with some fields
    print friend.screen_name

#to retrieve all followers etc, just leave the argument to items() blank.

#retrieve 100 of my latest followers
#COST: 1 API call = 100 users
for follower in tweepy.Cursor(api.followers).items(100):
    print follower.screen_name

#all status updates from user.
#COST: 1 API call= 20 users
for status in tweepy.Cursor(api.user_timeline, id=user).items(20):
    #status is an object with many fields and info
    print status.text

limit= api.rate_limit_status()['remaining_hits']
print 'now you only have', limit, 'API calls.'