How to Learn Programming

[ChaosTheory]

Hello everybody,

this is my first post on this forum. I've been working on a few trading systems for a while now and I'm starting to seriously consider the possibility of migrating my systems from the usual Tradestation-EasyLanguage setup to a more customized software solution. problem is, my programming knowledge is quite limited and I'm sure I would be better off hiring a programmer to do the "dirty" work.

On the other hand, hiring an outside programmer would mean disclosing important details about my systems, and I would prefer not to do that. Where should I start in order to learn programming by myself? any tips for me? any good website?

thanks

[hedger]

welcome to the forum, chaostheory.

I would suggest you develop your custom solution by yourself rather than outsourcing it to other programmers. The reason why is pretty obvious: you want as few people as possible to know about your edge, if any.

learning a programming language is not that difficult. it takes some time at the beginning but if you already know how to program in easylanguage I think it will be pretty easy for you. overall programming logic is pretty much the same across all the languages currently available. syntax changes.

choose a programming language(probably Visual Basic or C++), get yourself one of those thick books and start doing a few sample projects. see how it goes. good luck!

[Alchemist]

Hedger's words are GOLDEN. I myself developed my own arbitrage black boxes and I would NEVER let anyone else handle the programming side of it. There might be a little bit of learning curve involved if you are totally new to programming (which I understand you are not), but the long term advantages are considerable.

[MarkB]

best way to learn a programming language is by working on real life projects. Start by learning the basics first, like what is a variable, arrays, loops, etc. That is stuff which is common to all languages, only with different syntax.

Once you know the building blocks, apply them to real projects, even if you will most likely never finish them. the key is to work on real projects you like which go beyond the usual standardized projects you can find in books. hope this helps

[ChaosTheory]

thanks for sharing your programming knowledge, guys. I followed your advice and started developing real life, small project and having good results so far. I'm currently working with Visual Basic. enjoying it.

[Leth]

microsoft has some free express versions of thier main programming software...you can download them here...

http://www.microsoft.com/express/product/default.aspx

...they are much better than i thought they would be. also, they have free online/downloadable video tutorials for beginners...high quality stuff.


also, here is a good tutorial website for leaning the C language...very helpful. view here...

http://irc.essex.ac.uk/www.iota-six.co.uk/c/

...good luck everyone.