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On Thu, Jun 05, 2003 at 7:03:20AM -0500, Mike Eggleston wrote:
> Has anyone tried or have an opion of Ensign Software
> or an opinion of how it compares vs TSx? At first blush
> its programming language seems to offer more than
> EasyLanguage.
Mike,
My brief experience with Ensign on DTN sat was disappointing.
I agree the programming language looks promising, but I never got
that far, as Ensign's data-handling shortcomings got to me first.
As I remember, the most you can import into Ensign is about 1400
"things" which can be bars or ticks. 1400 ticks of SP or ES
history wasn't enough for my needs. I also found Ensign's use
of separate data files for each flavor of data---one file for
SP ticks, another for 1-min SP, yet another for 5-min SP, etc.,
was really clumsy. I can see where it was nice for the developer,
but it was really a pain for the user.
The other flaw that seemed unforgivable was Ensign's insistance
on collecting every tick of every category the DTN box is
permissioned for. So, if I get the CME to trade SP/ES, I still
have to burden my computer with everything traded on the CME.
DTN's protocol has provisions to set up the satellite receiver
to send just what you want to the computer, and I can't think
of why any client software wouldn't make use of that feature.
The developer of Ensign is very accessible and I was able to
have many exchanges with him, and he does release upgrades
often. He could teach Omega a lot in the way of service.
But on the points I mention above, he was adamant that he very
much wanted it to work that way, and would not entertain changes.
So I guess if you want to test a strategy (or trade realtime
with indicators that need it) that needs more than 1400 ticks
or bars, you just have to collect data for long enough.
And hope you don't ever lose what you've collected!
Jim
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