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December 11, 2020 at 6:18 pm #102079
Anonymous
InactiveI am new to coding so obviously I was expecting to struggle with the learning curve. But I wasnt expecting it to be as daunting as this. I was and am prepared to work very hard to get to grips with the challenge However what I have found is that the learning curve is not linear it is very jagged and at times I really dont know how to proceed.
I feel as if I am trying to learn Klingon but its being taught in Swahili.
I look for explanations in the user guide when I get stuck but I find it totally unhelpful for a newbie as I may understand each individual word but the sentence makes no sense that I can grasp. Many exercises in the course jump ahead of what I have learned in the class and so i find it difficult to learn intutively and therefore I feel my progress is painfully slow. Now have any of you been at this stage in your coding journey journey and if so how did you overcome it? The course isnt helping because i feel it is assuming a level of coding expertise that I dont have or a level of coding intuition that I also lack. Am I a lost cause?December 12, 2020 at 12:05 am #112663Nick Radge
KeymasterI’ve sent you an email Bernard.
December 12, 2020 at 11:28 am #112665TerryDunne
ParticipantSorry to hear you’re struggling man.
When I went through it, I could do all of the exercises but that left me a long way short of being able to code. For me, the solution was to use the templates in the course (as well as ones in the Forum here – you have to trawl), trust that they work (at least at first) and work backwards to fill the knowledge gaps. Also, Craig and Nick – I wasted a lot of time because I want to be ‘independent’ whatever that means when a quick phone chat/email with one of these guys moved me a long way forward.
FWIW, I still couldn’t start with a blank sheet and write workable code that does everything needed but I found that using the approach I described above means I haven’t ever needed to…
The other thing is perseverance, and buckets of it.
PS I still couldn’t code the graphics if my life depended on it, but I do have a dozen functional systems now, about three years down the track.
Good luck mate!
December 12, 2020 at 2:25 pm #112666InactiveHi Terry
I think you have nailed it. I tried to do it on my own and fell flat on my face. I have now reached out to Nick and Craig and hopefully we can find a way forward. Coding does not come naturally to me. It could well be the hardest thing I ever tried to learn. I thought learning to fly a twin engined aircraft in IFR conditions was hard enough but that was easy compared to this.
December 12, 2020 at 6:03 pm #112667DwayneYendall
MemberHi Bernard,
I’ve just started writing my code but as Terry has done I am finding the best way is to use the templates at the end of the course, things posted in this forum and using the entire course coding in Craig’s section as snippets.
It was as if Terry had written his post about me as I couldn’t write a code on my own without these above. Most programmers copy and paste coding all the time and then make the necessary adjustments to fit their needs.
The most important part is to understand what each area of the coding is doing and from that adjust from there.
I’m also the same way in that I don’t like to bother anyone too much and will try and figure things out on my own. I’m learning that I need to reach out a little more and its ok to do so. I have been backtesting this week and trying to figure out if my results are accurate and all it took was 1 line from Nick to point out what I need to make sure I have in my system to keep my testing as close to reliable as possible.
Just keep practicing writing the same coding from the Craig’s section over and over again, especially once you move forward to section 3. Test what each coding does again on the charts until it sinks in. Look at others coding posts and try figure out what it is doing.
I’ve been doing IT for 25yrs and while I could understand scripts and some systems coding I couldn’t write it myself but after I finish the 6 months and have my system online I now plan to learn to Python coding which is a benefit to my IT job as I have now found a new love for programming.
Cheers
DwayneDecember 13, 2020 at 1:14 am #112668JulianCohen
ParticipantTerry and Dwayne have approached it the same way I have.
I also couldn’t write out the code from scratch and looping I just can’t follow at all, however I understand what it is doing, just can’t necessarily follow through the logic in the code.
But it doesn’t matter if you have the templates that do what you want them to do. As long as you understand what they are doing, you don’t need to know how they are doing it. You just need to get yourself into a position where you can manipulate the area of the templates that allow you to test your ideas, and understand if you have done something that has potentially ruined the test. That is an achievable goal.
I feel that the parts of the course that deal with systems integration, portfolio management and diversification are really important parts too, well certainly for me.
Also I back up what everyone here says, including Nick and Craig….call them when you’re stuck. I’m sure a small number of people take that too far but even if you are one of those people you would never know from talking to Nick or Craig. They will always encourage you to reach out…There are no stupid questions, Nick says. I beg to differ as I have loads!!
December 13, 2020 at 10:02 am #112670OmarAouane
ParticipantI will echo what the guys have said. One trick could be that before being confortable writing code, try to be be confortable reading code. You go through each line/block of a template and strip it bit by bit to understand what it does and what it parameters refers to.
Don t feel alone , many of us here ( myself included) would not have made it without the – still needed- help of Craig and Nick. The journey is only starting!!December 14, 2020 at 1:03 pm #112669InactiveHi Dwayne thanks for the encouragemnt. I had a session with Craig last night and I now have a way forward. It is helpful to know that I am not the only one who has issues with the difficulty of coding. Good luck with the Python plan sounds exciting!
December 14, 2020 at 1:13 pm #112671InactiveJulian I have reached out and now have a plan. Its a little daunting but also encouraging bhat guys who have been doing this a lot longer than I have also find it challenging. I will perservere! Thanks agian.
December 14, 2020 at 1:16 pm #112672InactiveHi Omar with Craigs help I will do just as you say. Go through each line of code and really understand what it is doing which at this stage is all that can be expected given how difficult it is to write code from scratch.
December 15, 2020 at 2:01 am #112675ParticipantThink of it like school. As soon as you finish you can forget everything
December 15, 2020 at 6:29 am #112676MichaelRodwell
MemberKeep staring at the screen and take each little win along the way. It’s hard but it gest easier and dare I say even a little bit exciting.
December 15, 2020 at 4:28 pm #112677InactiveHey Bernard!
I’m echoing what the other have said here: make use of the snippets and don’t be afraid of copy and paste. I would never imagine starting with a blank sheet and writing all the code – but I can double click on those snippets and put them in order like nobody’s business!!!
[video]https://i.imgur.com/3cWjdq5.mp4[/video]
*** I can’t get this thing to post inline, so here – this was sent to me by some coder friends after I complained about who knows what:
[video src="https://i.imgur.com/3cWjdq5.mp4" /]December 15, 2020 at 4:37 pm #112678InactiveOh, and something that I implemented subconsciously which likely influenced my current trading systems: I did enough looping to get through the course, and I run zero systems with Amibroker that require any looping. I think the code turned me off to them quite severely, so I said “*EXPLETIVE* IT” and have not looked back at those multi-day holds. Hah!! For better or worse, I’ll never know, since I won’t code them and backtest them!
December 20, 2020 at 12:57 pm #112664TaranveerSingh
MemberHey Bernard. Everyone’s already contributed to the honest encouragement. Please trust the templates you get at the end. Often I used them multiple times and THEN understood them. While it’s a whole new world of unknows after you finish theory, the code gets sorted with help. Good luck
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