Tips for transitioning from MQL4 to JForex?

A poster on this forum recently got me very interested in Dukascopy's Jforex platform because of its capacity to conduct a far more accurate backtest. I downloaded the platform and attempted to learn the language so I could convert my current indicators/EAs.

I was really surprised by the lack of community/tutorials/examples for this language/platform. How am I supposed to learn to do this stuff?

From what I can tell, JForex's ability to convert MQL4 to Java sucks. I tried to convert the i-Regr indicator (mql4 code base) and got a million error messages.

I can see that this platform has far more potential than MT4, and I really want to use it for backtesting my EAs.

Can anyone give me a tip on what I can do to learn how to make EAs in a timely manner? Is there any information specifically about transitioning from MQL4 -> Jforex?

I know exactly how you feel!

I gave up on the converter. It's absolutely useless. Obviously, not a finished product as it couldnt convert any of my strategies - just kept hanging. We're not talking anything that complicated. I gave up trying to eliminate code to find out what it didn't like - life's too short and there're pips to be made!

Same goes for the bridge which doesn't seem to be 100% reliable. Very risky for real money.

I've just bitten the bullet to learn Java and JForex and am finding the lack of decent resources on JForex a pain.

I'm pretty much up to speed on the Java front but you could look at books like this one: http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downlo...es5-linked.pdf It may help you.

The big problem for me is the JForex API. There's very little out there for the beginner. The JForex reference http://www.dukascopy.com/client/javadoc/ is more of a reference tool. Great if you're just checking syntax or know how it all links together. Not great if you're starting out.

One web site I found very handy is http://www.quantisan.com/ Paul there has very helpfully included full sources of some of his code. One for the Dukas competition and some other bits and pieces. Well written code. It shows how it all links together although you do have you understand Java still!

Don't give up. I think JForex rather than converter or bridge is the way to go on Dukas. Or you could wait another year to see if they finish their MT4 implementation!

Mark

I don't really have any MQL4 or JForex experience, but I have lots of Java experience...

I just went through the gettingstarted tutorial at http://www.dukascopy.com/wiki/#Use_in_Eclipse and it looks good so far. I used to use a future pointer library, but haven't seen java.util.concurrent.Future before. Awesome! The syntax is just like I expect from elsewhere.

I will have to see how it goes, but it looks straightforward at first glance. I went to the link above and I won't be using map-reduce for this. That is a really neat technology, but it is one of those that you use "As Needed". Before going that far, I will code an iterative solution and I will replace with Map Reduce only if needed for performance. The other option is something like CUDA, but again, I won't go through that much work until I know it's needed. In both cases, if you aren't familiar with them, it is probably faster to write correct, debugged code and then translate than to write from scratch.

My first suggestions if you are learning java is, first of all, like all programming languages, the clearer it is in your mind, the clearer it is on paper. If you have to draw something or doodle, it is usually faster to just go ahead and do it. Then for Java, I would say first learn about HashMap's. This is the swiss army knife of java utility classes. There is a joke in the programmer community that if you are stuck on a difficult programming interview question, the best response is, "use a hash map". Second, if you are worried about performance, the first step is to learn about memoization. (Not a misspell)

Good luck...

[edit] I forgot to mention. If you have eclipse installed, then you should type "indicators." and then ctrl-space to bring up the completion list. This is a good way to see what the possibilities are.

Dukascopy JForex now convert MQL4 to Java very well. But you will have only compiled code (.jfx) not source code in Java.

Here is converter giving Java code:
https://code.google.com/p/mql4-connector/
But I did not try it.