Hi Everyone. I have read numerous articles talking about automation being the way of the future and that you need to know coding to get into trading these days. In that regard, what are the best coding languages to learn?
Do you have any recommended websites to learn these languages?
Thanks monkeys
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so the common ones are C++, Java, Python, R and SQL (though NOSQL has apparently quicker call times which is why all the HFTs are using Mongo DB). Do yourself a favor: start with python. Its syntax makes it really easy to write financial formulas in the code. hell finding the implied volatility in black-scholes european call option model only takes like 4 lines of code.
Downsides of Python: its called a scripting language. II think of it like you can dash it off like you are scripting an excuse for why you are coming home late drunk to your girlfriend. however, because you are running the code on the fly (aka there is no distinctive compiling process) it can run slower. languages like C++ and java are like wind up toys. yeah it takes a while to get the spring tightened (write the code and compile it) but then you can let the execution fly.
R is your go to stats programming if you are into some big data stuff (think cryptocurrency). It used to be Matlab but they charge Bloomberg rates and R is open source (read free).
Ruby, perl and PHP all have their uses but they fall into the same category type of languages as Python.
Oh one last thing: Python is mostly so fricking good because so many users have created theses "libraries" of information meant to shorten execution times on finance and math stuff you would run into in trading repeatedly and the shorthand is intuitive.. think of it like youtube. Back when youtube started it was pretty bullshit. now I don't even go to Cnn or whatever anymore to watch the presidential debates because they are all streamed live on the Tube.
oh and coursera is great for languages. udemy has some stuff too. free shorter stuff is available on code academy. and I love the Hackerrank challenges for figuring out basic language principles.
While i agree that Python is going to be the most useful when you are in an institution doing stuff...i would suggest learning VBA/Excel first. VBA/Excel is the easiest programming language to learn...because you have the excel grid to visually see what is going on with your data and code....its NOT the most efficient...and if you ever write something decently large in VBA, you'll ultimately want to rewrite it in a "better" language like C++....but VBA is very fast to learn, and very fast to code. For entry level stuff, that is where i would start.
I would suggest learning Python 2nd (also, some kind of SQL...maybe MSSQL Server because its free, but there are others).....and if you are really into stats and math, then yes R.
Awesome. Thank you for the insight. I am moderately experienced with excel so I will start working on the VBA/excel coding then move on to python after a while.
I know coding is huge for equities, but is it the same with Fixed Income trading as well?
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