Hello John. Valuing the benefits of community effort, and wanting to contribute something in that area, I recently promised/threatened Tomasz I would make some suggestions through the eyes of a new user, while I was fresh to the program. I did this mainly through the feedback centre (as BrianB2) and took the approach of throwing the suggestions up on a first response basis without too much censorship. I was always prepared to do the hard work of translating those suggestions into researched proposals and expanding the scope if asked.
My main reason for coming to AB was because of it's hardcore analytical and trading features, and my opinion is that this is it's main area of strength. However most of my suggestions, as a new user, eventually aligned themselves under three headings; training, detailing and ergonomics. Obviously 'new users' are not in a position to comment on the core analytical features. In my opinion AB lacks many of the ergonomic features that have become defacto industry standards elsewhere e.g. database management, file and folder management (copy, paste, delete, drag & drop, autobackup/recovery, right click properties, exchange formula files etc). This is particularly evident in the workspace environment. I personally find this very frustrating as manually managing maintenance duties takes a lot of energy and focus away from system design/testing and ultimately trading. In view of what is at stake I believe these features are more important in 'trading' programs than they are in everyday programs. However Tomasz didn't appear to be amenable to ergonomic suggestions. My understanding is that they are not aligned to his design philosophy for the program, but he might like to comment on that for himself. As a matter of principle I do respect the right of any business owner to live and die by their own philosophies. On that basis I agreed to disagree and moved on. I do think there is a danger, for AB, in that if other programs come along that match AB's analytical power while also offering ergonomic features, AB may notbe able to maintain its competitive place in the market. That of course is only a personal opinion and perhaps my views will change as I spend more time in the program. There are also a lot of ifs in that proposition. Providing Tomasz does agree to a re-design of the workspace/preference setting features I would definitely help by doing some homework and submitting some considered suggestions. Thanks for your efforts. I am generally supportive of positive and pro-active people. Regards, BrianB2. --- In [email protected], "John R" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Having just corrupted some of my indicators yet again I thought I would post > some personal observations and suggested improvements on AB indicator > maintenance. I am posting here rather than direct to the AB suggestions box > to get the POV of other users. Hopefully others may be able to offer some > tips on best practice or point out the error of my ways and also if enough > users chime in we can then compile a list of agreed suggestions for TJ to > consider. > > OK here are my observations:- > > It is *far* too easy to corrupt indicators without even realising it. I bet > nearly everyone has done this. For those who think you have never done it > try checking thru the code of all your custom and builtin indicators and see > if they contain what you expect ;-) > > In the early days of AB when we only had slots for a few custom indicators > (20 was it?) maintenance was not a problem. But with large and increasing > numbers of indicators I find accurate maintenance a real problem. In > addition we have systems, explorations, scans, filters and those which do > combinations. Over time I have tried various methods of file suffixes, > prefixes, directories etc. to try and keep things under control but never > been entirely happy with it. My feeling is there must be a better more > organised solution with maybe separate directories for these specified via > Preferences. > > One of the big problems I have is indicators getting out of sync with the > corresponding .afl file on disk. For example it is very easy to make an > amendment to an indicator while testing visually via charts/guru commentary > and forget to save to the correct afl file on disk. Later when I come to > system test and copy/paste the code into test afl from disk I get unexpected > results. BTW I am sure the endless copy/edit/paste operations will eventally > drive me to complete baldness - my background is in commericial IT systems > development so it goes very much against the grain when you cannot define a > formula/module just once and then just refrence it wherever required. TJ > has said he will add this facility but will I have any hair left by then ;^) > > > Suggested improvements:- > > In IB add a Copy button to enable a new version of an indictaor to be > created quickly. Default new name = old name with numeric suffice e.g. > HolyGrail[2] > > In indicator browse list add columns for date and time last modified. Allow > sorting on name column or date and time. At present you cannot check dates > or easily determine which indciators you were last working on. > > In indicator browse list add columns for In quick list, Uses builtin code, > Use formula only. At present you must laboriously click down thru every list > item to determine these. > > Provide some protection or warning to prevent unintentional overwriting when > using Load. > > IMO indicators should be directly related by filename to the corresponding > disk file. For example the indicator HolyGrail7 is defined via the disk file > HolyGrail7.afl Ideally AB preferences would specify the directory name(s) > for custom and standard indicators. This would prevent many maintenance > problems that the current architecture invites and would also facilitate > many other maintance operations (see below). > > Facility to bulk load indicators from disk files into AB. i.e. browse and > select multiple .afl disk files which are then loaded into corresponding > custom or builtin indicator names. > > Facility to bulk copy indicators from AB to disk files i.e. browse and > select multiple AB indictors which are then copied to selected windows > directory. > > Allow the default directories for custom and bulitin indicators to be > specified via Preferences. Maybe also systems, explorations, scans....? > > > All POVs welcome. > > John > Please note that this group is for discussion between users only. To get support from AmiBroker please send an e-mail directly to SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com For other support material please check also: http://www.amibroker.com/support.html Yahoo! 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