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Issues about an EA getting complex.

  • #1
  • First Post: Jun 13, 2009 11:29am Jun 13, 2009 11:29am
Hi everyone it's over a month that i'm working at an EA. The original idea was fairly simple, but it took a while for me to figure out how to code it.

Even if it may sound unusual, i'm trying to do a program that will actually analyze the market..that said i'm having a few things that are making me worried about this.
I am not an expert coder, in fact i would say i'm a newbie, and my EA is getting more and more complex.
What really worries me is that, the rules that i think may help to determine what is happening in the market in realtime, are getting more and more, and i'm afraid that soon enough, the rest of the code to be written will make my EA a chaotic behemoth o rules in wich any minor change will need a disproportionate change to be obtained.

I'm not asking for coding help, just would like to know if there are any general sets of rules to prevent your code to become too chaotic.

So far i have tried to have most of the calculation to be made into various functions, wich then return globals. The globals then instruct the code need to execute/change/close orders. About this another problem may be that my globals are becoming just too many, and i hear that this may be a problem, even if i dont really know why.

Thanks for the attention, and for any help that may come.


ps. If anyone is interested here is a set of backtests i did few days ago, wich led me to think that my work on this EA is going in the right direction.
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...19#post2791119
  • #2
  • Edited 11:59am Jun 13, 2009 11:38am | Edited 11:59am
When I work on something complex, I make a lot of code snipets wich returns either 1,0 or -1.

Like this;

int SnipetX()
{

if (((Close[3]<Close[2]) && (Close[2]<Close[1]) && (Close[1]>=Close[0])) &&
((Volume[3] < Volume[2]) && (Volume[2] < Volume[1]) && (Volume[1] > Volume[0])))
{
return (1); //BUY
}

if (((Close[3]>Close[2]) && (Close[2]>Close[1]) && (Close[1]<=Close[0])) &&
((Volume[3] < Volume[2]) && (Volume[2] < Volume[1]) && (Volume[1] > Volume[0])))

{
return (-1); //SELL
}

return(0); //NO SIGNAL
}


Then later at trading section of Ea you just call all the functions.......

if (SnipetX()== 1)&&(SnipetY()== 1)&&(SnipetY()== 1)) then BUY etc...
forexflash
  • #3
  • Jun 13, 2009 3:02pm Jun 13, 2009 3:02pm
Thanks for your input.
I also work in a similar way, its only that i think i have over 60 global variables, and i can foresee at least another 20 or so, or even another 60 maybe, i'm not sure how much code it will take to include the whole mechanism.
Could that be a problem?

If i'd have to rewrite all my EA, to not have as many, THAT would be some serious pain..
  • #4
  • Last Post: Jun 14, 2009 2:36pm Jun 14, 2009 2:36pm
I work in functions as it stays clean and easy to read...

here is an example :

Inserted Code
void check_entry()
{
//////////////////////////////
if(total==0&&adxplus>adxminus&&rsi>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig>macdmain&&Close[1]>sma)buy1=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus2>adxminus2&&rsi2>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig2>macdmain2&&Close[1]>sma)buy2=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus3>adxminus3&&rsi3>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig3>macdmain3&&Close[1]>sma)buy3=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus4>adxminus4&&rsi4>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig4>macdmain4&&Close[1]>sma)buy4=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus5>adxminus5&&rsi5>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig5>macdmain5&&Close[1]>sma)buy5=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus6>adxminus6&&rsi6>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig6>macdmain6&&Close[1]>sma)buy6=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus7>adxminus7&&rsi7>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig7>macdmain7&&Close[1]>sma)buy7=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus8>adxminus8&&rsi8>RSI_Buy_Level&&macdsig8>macdmain8&&Close[1]>sma)buy8=true; 

if(total==0&&adxplus<adxminus&&rsi<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig<macdmain&&Close[1]<sma)sell1=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus2<adxminus2&&rsi2<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig2<macdmain2&&Close[1]<sma)sell2=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus3<adxminus3&&rsi3<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig3<macdmain3&&Close[1]<sma)sell3=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus4<adxminus4&&rsi4<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig4<macdmain4&&Close[1]<sma)sell4=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus5<adxminus5&&rsi5<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig5<macdmain5&&Close[1]<sma)sell5=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus6<adxminus6&&rsi6<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig6<macdmain6&&Close[1]<sma)sell6=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus7<adxminus7&&rsi7<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig7<macdmain7&&Close[1]<sma)sell7=true;
if(total==0&&adxplus8<adxminus8&&rsi8<RSI_Sell_Level&&macdsig8<macdmain8&&Close[1]<sma)sell8=true;
//////////////////////////////
}
and then use a filter function :

Inserted Code
void  filter_entry()
    {
/////////////////////////////////
if(buy&&iClose(NULL,0,0)<sar)buy=false;
if(sell&&iClose(NULL,0,0)>sar)sell=false;
if(buy&&ma1<ma2)buy=false;
if(sell&&ma1>ma2)sell=false;
/////////////////////////////////
    }
you can add thousands of filters to check market conditions and the code stays neat and readable

...Im sure the style wont work for everyone but it works for me as it looks clean and logical, also allows you to put only the functions in the start() function like this :

Inserted Code
int start()
  {
//----
   count_orders();
   run_indies();
   check_exit()
   check_entry();
   filter_entry();
   trade();
   count_orders();
   draw_objects();
//----
   return(0);
  }
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