this question is similar to many other questions in life. such as, someone with no experience of driving a car, wants to be a F1 race driver. the answer to your question my friend is: you start with a nice spreadsheet called Excel with its VBA. I saw couple of Matlabs and even R in this thread. I just laughed. I also saw someone say "c++ in 21 day". I laughed again. louder. the complexity in quantiative modelling in C++ is beyond every other language named on this whole site. it is the final item you might want to look at - provided you've mastered something lower - and only when there is no other choice.
very good post. I just don't get it why people think they can pick up "c++ in 21 days" and model in c++. it's also true that a more quantiative background is needed. you can pick up the books (physics, math, probability), read and learn yourself. you don't need to be given a qualification for it. but don't expect to be up to scratch in two days.
shit.. I'm sorry, I just skimmed the thread, didn't exactly read the post. that's a very good point and i totally agree. (take bak what i said)
Please note that I did not say anything about "learning C++ in 21 days," or any other such thing. My question was simply what progression might one take (certainly there is more than one) in order to learn programming and modeling. That learing these might actually take some time (as in years) is not a surprise. Again, my thanks to everyone taking time to comment!
that's like saying I want to travel to a different city, but I'm not sure how or what directions to take. u want to model, model what? what do u want to do exactly? price instruments? hedge? arithmetic trading? technical trading? in the same way that u need a boat to get across a river, only certain packages/languages have practical applications for use. it's ridiclous to learn riding a bike to travel over the atlanic. when I read ur first post you're just interested in a starting point in programming. the first reply includes perl, matlab and R. u have to becareful with this. if you don't have the slightest clue about these languages I suggest you go research a little what programming is, the different between RAD, OPs etc. learning a programming language is like learning a full language. have you seen those people who speak 5 languages? - but none perfect? how many known successful people in the world are professional translators? learning computer programming takes time. unless ur gifted like some. and u need to keep in mind about LOGIC. the way ur mind works and thinks or imagines naturally probably suits certain languages than others. same with organisation. as I said, a good starting point is Excel and VBA. this gives u a feel like of what operators do and how logical programming can be. then, think about what u actually want to do, what's important? speed? clarity? etc. I recommend the following to any new begginer: http://www.libertybasic.com
I would suggest you go with Matlab. There are various reasons why I am recommending this. I suggest you read the following thread: http://www.nuclearphynance.com/Show Post.aspx?PostIDKey=43398 Instead of talking about a 101 things people need to back up their arguements. Know what you want to do, know the background material present, and then implement, implement, implement. If you have difficulty programming then team up with a friend and attack the problem. It is problem solving pure and simple. The reason why all the top trading firms hire IMO/Putnam winners and top PhDs is because they can problem solve. Be focused and disciplined in your learning. It shouldn't be too hard to pick up the language as you move forward. (Learning VBA to start off isn't the optimal way of tackling this problem. Pick up a good engineering oriented software such as Matlab and R and you will be good to go)
There is a good reason... Why formal, difficult, university level education exists. It's the ONLY way to TRAIN a person to think differently... on a much higher level. 4 to 10 years of Intellectual Boot Camp... Teach doctors to think in specific, structured ways... Teach lawyers to think in specific, structured ways... Teach software engineers to think in specific, structured ways... with a hardcore emphasis on logic. There are ** no shortcuts ** to any of the above professions... No "Brain Surgery For Dummies"... sorry. A person without a ** formal ** Computer Science and Math/Stats education... Is very likely do an ameteur job of coding a worthless strategy... And would be incapable of developing... An artful, leading edge trading room at any serious level of sophistication. The one key ingredient to my success as a fund manager... Is a rugged, hardcore Computer Science degree that I slaved 4 years to earn. It forever changed the way I process a world that is 90% b*llshit... And without it... my business simply would not be possible.
Sorry dog... you're wrong. Ever heard of the expression "Where there's will, there's certainly a way"? If you ask me, many more than one.