Hi all,
as per title i’ve finally started the python journey. My goal is backtest and trading.
What I dont know is if there are “different” type of pythons, because while browsing for tutorials i’m seeing a lot of different areas where python is used. (for example pythong for data analysts, or pythong for engineers etc)
So far i have started from the very beginning and am watching some youtube tutorials while also reading the documentation on this website.
I’ve learned about variables, loops, lists and other basic stuff, so far so good, but i’m wondering if the “normal” python is able to do trading related stuff?
by normal i mean, cause I see a lot of people talking about downloading stuff (like add-on libraries/extensions i think?) inorder to trade. does this mean the out of the box python is not capable of trading related actions? (by this i mean, does it miss the syntax/codes to place orders and stuff?)
sorry but im totally confused; while the tutorials i have watched so far are quite simple to understand, im fearing that i am entering a no-exit tunnel
That’s good. Make sure you are learning Python 3, since that is the current version. While you will benefit greatly if you can find Python packages specifically designed for backtest and trading, you would still be using Python 3 as you work with those packages as well as some more general ones that might be designed for processing data or machine learning. Therefore, becoming familiar with Python 3 is a great way to begin.
There’s only one Python language, with one syntax (though older/newer versions exist of course). The different versions/addons are additional “packages” you can download then import, which are just existing Python code that others have written to do these things for you. You can easily get those via pip, for the most part. Python’s “standard library” comes with a lot of more general purpose packages and modules, which you’ve probably already seen.
@Quercus Yes I’m currently learning/using Python 3. So far i have only started one beginner tutorial from youtube it was the first on in the list by codecamp. Its very basic so far, just introduction arithmetic examples and such. I have ordered a couple of books for a quick read/reference. Wish there was an option to print the entire official documentation off this website.
@TeamSpen210 I see, so theres no new code that needs to be learned to use such pcks. Even better. I did come across ‘modules’ in this video, but im not sure if they’re the same as libraries and such, but guess i’ll google about those some time in the near future. for now i’ll still need to get the generic feel of it.
There are many good books on Python, and one of my favorites is Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen B. Downey. It is available in print, PDF, and HTML format, with the latter two formats offered online for free. The book presents details of Python as a programming language with an emphasis on using it for problem solving.
There are download links available for the documentation in various formats, but you probably don’t want to print it out. It’d be thousands of pages long, and you wouldn’t have easy search or cross referencing abilities.
@Quercus thanks for the link! downloading it right away. It good to have additional learning material since i would be needed to refer a lot to such books due to a very bad memory span.
@TeamSpen210 thnks you too for the link. The fact there’s both A4 and Letter shows how serious they are about being professional. Liking it even more.
So far i’m progressing with the tutorial but questions are piling up.
I’ll try and solve them on my own/googling them. if not i’ll come ask for help.
