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Re: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.



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Dan, thank you for this excellent explanation of the various layers in Amibroker.  Ron D
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Clark
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 6:59 AM
Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.

Barry,

 

I looked at the manual.    Much of what is in primer is available in the Amibroker Users Guide.  Key sections would be:

 

·         Tutorial à Amibroker Formula Language

·         Tutorial à Video

·         AmiBroker Formula Language

 

While I agree that it would be nice to have an AFL primer packaged together like this, the effort level would be much higher than you are projecting.   My knowledge of the details of MetaStock is limited.  Even based on that limited knowledge, I can see several issues that would increase the projected effort by an order of magnitude:

 

·         AB and Metastock have some major differences in how they work.  For example, AB processes arrays.   Metastock does not.   That makes direct comparisons difficult.

 

·         In general, AB has features that Metastock does not, and vice versa.  Or they have the same function, but it works differently.    For example, Metastock has something called the “P Variable” and the “Security() Function”.    It appears that they do something similar to AB’s AddToComposite function, but that’s not clear.   So, are they comparable?  Yes?   No?  How? How not?   Answering this question alone might take hours of research.

 

·         Another issue is the outline or table of contents.   What should be included?  Excluded?   What is necessary to know?  What not?   What is important to one person might not be important to the next.   Defining this would the first step and it would be very difficult. 

 

·         My sense of AB versus Metastock is that Metastock is more “polished” because it is an older product.   But it looks a bit monolithic.  You can create functions and buy plugins, but can’t really change the way it operates.    OTOH, AB is layered like an onion.  

 

Your first impression is charts and formulas and backtesting.   What you see is what you get.  However, as you learn it better, you see start seeing layers.   If you don’t like the way a “layer” works, you can modify it.  Take charts for example…  

 

Think of the visible chart as Layer 1.  It’s similar to other packages.   You can navigate around, change symbols, etc.   But suppose certain indicator parameters aren’t quite right…

 

If don’t like the way a chart looks, you can right-click and change some parameters.  This is layer 2.   Simple enough and similar to other packages.   Don’t like the parameters that you see?  Change them…

 

Let’s say you don’t see a parameter that you need, so you right-click and select “Edit Formula”.  Now you are into layer 3.  Layer 3 is pretty deep.   But you find out pretty quickly that you can do things like creating or modifying your own user parameters to change styles, colors, indicator periods etc. using AFL functions.    So you tweak or create some new parameters, save them and close the Formula Editor.   Now right click and your new parameters are there.   

 

In addition, in the Layer 3 function layer, you can create an large variety of AFL functions that can be used for exploration, scans, indicators. 

 

But what if that isn’t enough?  Well, you can use the AFL scripting host and use VBScript or Jscript.  Think of that as Layer 4. 

 

But suppose you need some REALLY heavy lifting.   Well you create objects externally or can call the Amibroker objects from an AFL script.   For example, I needed to set the “FullName” programmatically.  That’s a simple call to the AB “Broker” object.   Think of that as Layer 5.

 

But there is one additional layer – AddToComposite.  (Let’s call this Layer 6).    This allows you to CREATE AND SAVE your own data.  Everything I described before is related to manipulating, analyzing and displaying data.   With AddToComposite, you create your own data.  It can be something like creating your own Sector indexes from your list of tradable stocks or something like creating a new symbol that contains the results of a processed indicator for another symbol.   Now you can use this symbol like any other symbol!

 

The key underlying all of this is the AB function.   Everything below Layer 2 is done with functions.   How well does that relate to Metastock?  

 

I think writing a quality, 100 page, AFL Primer would be a big task.  I think that it would take a talented person at least a month of long days to do it.   And that would NOT be me.

 

Just my two cents.

 

Regards,

 

Dan.


From: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Barry Seeger
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 8:58 PM
To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.

 

Yes, I agree, AmiBroker is a terrific program and good value for money, and Tomasz, Marcin and the community of users, Graham in particular, are always helpful and supportive.

 

But I and others remain disappointed that we haven’t been able to learn to be efffective AmiBroker programmers faster. I think that a manual along the lines of the MetaStock Formula Primer would give us all a leg up, and would be a great addition to the material already provided by AmiBroker.  I’m uncomfortable about holding MS up as a model, but I know that whenever any user asks about programming it, the answer is always “Read the Formula Primer”. The absence of an equivalent here is a serious gap for new users of AB at the moment. Since a model already exists, I don’t believe it would be expensive to do.

Barry

 


From: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dan Clark
Sent: Tuesday, 16 August 2005 1:00 PM
To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.

 

Not to mention a powerful, very flexible and extensible program!

 


From: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mrdavis9
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 5:20 PM
To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.

 

Another great benefit of using Amibroker is the prompt and invaluable help
that Graham so generously provides.  Ron D


----- Original Message -----
From: "Graham" <kavemanperth@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 6:37 PM
Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.


> Just keep in mind that MS is large organisation that charges a lot
> more money fir its program, and has been available for many years.
> Thus it could afford to be generous and provide an ABC of using MS.
> Perhaps TJ should charge $1000 for AB then employ a sawg of people to
> write a primer.
> One thing you do not get for your $1000+ from the other mob is the
> support from the developers.
>
> On 8/16/05, Barry Seeger <bseeger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Joe,
>>
>> Thanks, I just checked the Ft Monitor site, and I see Bill Barack's
>> Trading Systems 101, but nothing on AmiBroker Formula Language.
>>
>>
>>
>> The thing people appreciate about the MetaStock Formula Primer, available
>> here: http://www.equis.com/Customer/Resources/Formulas/Primer.aspx ,
>>
>> is that it focuses on the basic principles of the MetaStock language, so
>> it is pretty much unaffected by upgrades in the program. It's a good
>> model for a Formula manual.
>>
>>
>>
>> And you know I would hope that an AmiBroker Formula Language manual would
>> never become a best seller, because it would be available free, as the
>> MetaStock Formula Primer is.
>>
>> The fact is, it's a lot easier to learn to program MetaStock than
>> AmiBroker, just because of the existence of that free manual.
>>
>> AmiBroker needs something similar, and a very efficient approach to
>> writing it would be to just copy the one that works.
>>
>>
>>
>> Barry
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>
>>
>> From: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
>> Behalf Of Joe Landry
>> Sent: Monday, 15 August 2005 11:34 PM
>> To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please
>> Help.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Bill Barrack from the Ohio area has taught Amibroker 101 at various
>> venues.  He's
>>
>>
>> an excellent teacher and would do a great job on the manual.  In fact his
>> AB101 Camtasia videos that were
>>
>>
>> produced in 2004 are probably still available at FTMonitor.  I must
>> caution that they were
>>
>>
>> produced before a major change in the indicators, like drag and drop. (So
>> there's this old
>>
>>
>> version bug a boo always staring at you..how to keep the documentation
>> and therefore the
>>
>>
>> manual current.)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The big question is - would it be worth his while or anyone else's while
>> to produce a manual?
>>
>>
>> If there was a chance of it becoming a best seller then there would be a
>> few folks dusting off
>>
>>
>> their eyeshades and keyboards to have a go at it.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> MHO
>>
>>
>> Joe Landry
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>>
>> From: brseeger
>>
>>
>> To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
>> Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2005 9:43 PM
>>
>>
>> Subject: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems. Please Help.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Somebody suggested that I write a manual for AB, but if I could do
>> that, I wouldn't be asking for it.  Here is my suggestion for a
>> quick way to do it: take the MetaStock Formula Primer, which is
>> widely regarded as being pretty good, replace all the code with
>> AmiBroker code, add a chapter about arrays vs loops, and put it out
>> here for comments and fine-tuning.  That would take an AmiBroker
>> programmer 2 days, tops. As it would be offered for free, copyright
>> issues with MetaStock don't apply. It would be the best 2 days work
>> on AmiBroker ever, because it would open AB up to many more people
>> who are having difficulty learning to program it, and I know there
>> are many of us.
>>
>>
>> --- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Graham <kavemanperth@xxxx> wrote:
>> > what about the wikipedia thing, is that moving forward?
>> >
>> > On 8/13/05, forex5x <forex@xxxx> wrote:
>> > > Hello Barry,
>> > >
>> > > I concur.
>> > > There is a program called Camtasia, and what it does is allow
>> the user to
>> > > record the screen and to speak as well.  This then becomes a
>> canned
>> > > demonstration of how to use a system that can be available on a
>> web site.
>> > >
>> > > http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/default.asp
>> > > if you want to peek at it.
>> > >
>> > > If anyone is so inclined to develop a training system in this or
>> similar
>> > > manner it would be worth paying for the reduction in stress to
>> learn.
>> > >
>> > > Also, if someone wanted to write a book it would be in my
>> bookcase as soon
>> > > as I found out about it...as far as I know there is no
>> book...anyone know of
>> > > one?
>> > >
>> > > Forex5x AKA Steve
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> [mailto:amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
>> > > Of brseeger
>> > > Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 4:57 PM
>> > > To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> > > Subject: [amibroker] Re: Getting Started with AFL Systems.
>> Please Help.
>> > >
>> > > --- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Sidney Kaiser <s9kaiser@xxxx>
>> > > wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> > > > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>> > > > Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.5/67 - Release Date:
>> > > 8/9/2005
>> > >
>> > > I am also having difficulty learning to program well in AFL, and
>> I
>> > > know several other people who are having the same difficulty,
>> some
>> > > of whom have resorted to reading the User Guide 10 pages a day. I
>> > > think AmiBroker is a very good program, and I have no association
>> > > with any other charting package. I have used and programmed
>> several,
>> > > including MetaStock and WealthLab. My background is engineering,
>> > > including teaching at University level.
>> > >
>> > > The best free manual I have ever seen for novice coders is the
>> > > MetaStock Formula Primer, available here:
>> > > http://www.equis.com/Customer/Resources/Formulas/Primer.aspx
>> > >
>> > > AmiBroker needs to create something similar to that Primer: a
>> step-
>> > > by-step guide with exercises, from basics through to more
>> advanced
>> > > concepts, including anything unusual about the program, e.g.,for
>> AB,
>> > > how to decide when array processing will suffice, and when
>> looping
>> > > is necessary. In my humble opinion, such a Primer is an obvious
>> > > omission in the otherwise excellent User Guide, Function
>> Reference
>> > > and other support offered by AmiBroker.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Please note that this group is for discussion between users only.
>> > >
>> > > To get support from AmiBroker please send an e-mail directly to
>> > > SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com
>> > >
>> > > For other support material please check also:
>> > > http://www.amibroker.com/support.html
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Please note that this group is for discussion between users only.
>> > >
>> > > To get support from AmiBroker please send an e-mail directly to
>> > > SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com
>> > >
>> > > For other support material please check also:
>> > > http://www.amibroker.com/support.html
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Cheers
>> > Graham
>> > AB-Write >< Professional AFL Writing Service
>> > Yes, I write AFL code to your requirements
>> > http://e-wire.net.au/~eb_kavan/ab_write.htm
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Please note that this group is for discussion between users only.
>>
>> To get support from AmiBroker please send an e-mail directly to
>> SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com
>>
>> For other support material please check also:
>> http://www.amibroker.com/support.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> SPONSORED LINKS
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>> ________________________________
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>>
>>
>>  Visit your group "amibroker" on the web.
>>
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>>
>>  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>>  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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>>
>>  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>>  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>>
>> ________________________________
>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>> Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.9/72 - Release Date: 14/08/2005
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>> Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.10/73 - Release Date:
>> 15/08/2005
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Cheers
> Graham
> AB-Write >< Professional AFL Writing Service
> Yes, I write AFL code to your requirements
> http://e-wire.net.au/~eb_kavan/ab_write.htm
>
>
>
> Please note that this group is for discussion between users only.
>
> To get support from AmiBroker please send an e-mail directly to
> SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com
>
> For other support material please check also:
> http://www.amibroker.com/support.html
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>





--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.10/73 - Release Date: 15/08/2005


--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.10/73 - Release Date: 15/08/2005



Please note that this group is for discussion between users only.

To get support from AmiBroker please send an e-mail directly to
SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com

For other support material please check also:
http://www.amibroker.com/support.html





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