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Post From: Advice on Learning ACSIL and Spreadsheets

[2020-02-18 15:07:27] Link To Thread - Link To Post [Go To First Post]
bradh - Posts: 854
I suggest you start by learning how to use spreadsheets first. You can start by making your own indicators and alerts. Then learn about auto trading spreadsheets. Build up to the basics of order entry and exit formulas (Columns K through N), understanding the different types of orders, etc. A good resource is https://www.sawtoothtrade.com/. The webmaster TomGilb posts here regularly and is the local expert on Sierra spreadsheets. He has helped many solve their problems, so don't be afraid to ask questions. When you have learned most of what can be done with spreadsheets, you will start to see its limitations. At this point, you can look at the ACSIL documentation, and first understand the structure of a custom study CPP file that will be built into a DLL. You can view the source code for most studies by looking at the name of the SCSF function in the DLLName.Function box of the study's settings and then searching for that string in the contents of the files in the ACS_Source folder. (Hint: Change the file explorer search options to include contents.) They will usually be in a file called StudiesX.cpp. By following along with the code, you can see how the developers of the studies accomplished what they wanted. Thinking in terms of how the spreadsheets work (they aren't Excel files, but they use Excel-like functions and are unique in their layout), whatever you did in a spreadsheet study can be done in ACSIL, so you might want to practice converting a spreadsheet you make to ACSIL as a project. You can use the Remote Build option or install the free Visual Studio and get the benefits of its debugging capabilities after you get frustrated debugging with log files. Another thing you will want to do is to practice good version control. You don't want to have only one copy of a file, you want to keep previous versions to easily go back if the changes you made are just not working and you want to roll back. A tool for that is git, which also will require patience to learn if it is new to you. And bugs you will have. If you are really good you will spend a small percentage of your time debugging. When you start out, however, you will likely spend most of the time debugging. There is great satisfaction when you get it right, so don't give up. It is a learning process and if you have never programmed before, you will want to learn the basics of programming a procedural programming language. There are many videos on YouTube that can help you get started with C++. Don't worry if you don't get all the advanced topics, you won't need most of them. You will need to know the basics of C with a few of the enhancements that C++ adds. Most important is to practice, practice, practice.