There comes a time in every data scientist’s life when an idea for a weird Twitter bot pops into your head. Or some one-off game based on dataset you played with recently. How does one go about making something like this? Kate Compton provides a beginner’s guide.

This is a beginner-level advice essay for people just getting started with building generators. It’s also for practiced experts who want a way to organize their knowledge. The advice is meant for any kind of generators: humorous twitterbots, fanciful art-making bots, level generators, planet builders, makers of music, architecture, poetry, and cocktails.