My perspective as a newcomer to programming when I started into AB/AFL around 2-3 years ago:
- Tomasz says that AB is most like C - primarily one has to learn AFL fullstop - experienced programmers sometimes have to unlearn somethings and find this hard to do for a while - in some ways programming naivity paid off for me as I am at home with array programming - in other places I am lost because nothing can fill the missing link of not being familiar with syntax that is common to other languages (called experience) - AFL is quirky ..... some things that intuitively and logically seem needed are 'missing' and then you have to work around that e.g. IMO it is bizarre that AFL has been around for many years but doesn't have dynamic arrays or matrix functions ... the quirky aspects of AFL make it extremely difficult for lay people ... every time you get on a roll you find an exception - some of the architecture of AB is quirky also e.g. essentially it is a database, at the binary level, but you can't write directly to the native database - to save you future distress....many in the past have asked for an AFL book...the logic seems compelling to me - everyone starts from a different place so some need an 'Intro to AB', book - I like Howards contributions overall but IMO it is rather old world to publish in hard copy ... an ebook would be much better ... we have to consider that AB/AFL is way beyond the 500 pages allocated to it ib Howard's 2 books. - the AFL library is not the place to learn code ... good for sharing code between experienced AFL'ers - this forum is a book and contains at least 1000* the code, help, code and trading tips available anywhere else ..... unfortunately it lacks sections, an index and topics etc .... once again the logic for a better forum (from an educational perspective) seems compelling. (Sorry Rik but Google searching Yahoo doesn't reference threads does it?) - AB/AFL is huge ... I don't think any layperson will ever cover it all without a big effort to become a programming expert, albeit one who specialises in AFL - AB is not a democracy or an open project BTW all of the advice given in this thread so far is spot on. --- In [email protected], "louies88" <louie...@...> wrote: > > I think Amibroker is great, especially its AFL. Although I don't know enough > about it to claim that it's superior than most other scripting languages out > there, I know for a fact that this is one of the best. That also begs the > question of how a person w/ virtually no programming background can get > started w/ AFL. I followed this forum long enough to note that some of you in > here are excellent coders. The codes that I often see are flawless and > eloquent, which then makes me think how long does it take a coding newbie > such as myself to attain that coding level. > > I look at it this way. Coding a computer language is pretty similar to > learning a foreign language. I remember how my first English class went. I > started out by learning a few basic vocabulary words, then use some of it in > the form of a noun, then a verb, finally an object. Sentence structures, or > in computer language better known as syntax, govern if a sentence is > grammatically correct or if it's not. With that in mind, I also started out > by looking at the AFL Library in Amibroker. I downloaded all of the functions > in the hope of building myself an Amibroker vocabulary and started to put > some of the basic vocabulary words together to make a "sentence." > > However, since there isn't any kind of document FORMALLY teaching the ABC of > coding in Amibroker, I'm left w/ a question how does Amibroker syntax work? > Some of the experienced coders here often compare AFL syntax to that of C++. > But for a person w/ neither background in AFL or C++ or any other computer > langugae, the question remains: How do I get start? Where's the square one? > > Anybody w/ such experience is highly appreciated if he/she's willing to shed > a light on this. > > > Thanks >
