How do I learn Ninja Programming

[canthony]

Does anyone have any ideas how I can learn to program my own indicators or strategies? I have Basic programming experience and believe this is a variation of C# programming. But I am hoping to find a "Ninja Programming for Dummies" book or something along those lines. Any thoughts and comments on the best way to approach learning this language are appreciated.

[mountainclimber]

Hello,

There is not book, but you will find these links helpful in getting started:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/educational_resources.htm

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/alphabetical_reference.htm

http://www.ninjatrader.com/webnew/events_onlinetrading_ninjascript.htm

http://www.ninjatrader-support2.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=30

http://www.ninjatrader-support2.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=31

Then just start hacking away and trying to build stuff...You have to use it to learn it. Try modifying the strategies in your platform that start with "Sample..." in their name. Post your q's here for tips. The NT has full-time staff who give programming tips on this forum when people post. Every post is looked at by an NT support staff member.

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Welcome to our forums canthony, thanks for the input mountainclimber!

You should take a look at those indicator tutorials here for a smooth start into NinjaScript - http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/H...verview18.html

Another convenient way is starting out with the Strategy Wizard - http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/H...rdScreens.html

You can view or later unlock the underlying source code it generates to further learn the coding aspects for finetune it via custom programming then.

[MicroAl]

Learning Ninjascript/C#

The home and learn C# course has been recommended on this forum previously http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/csharp/csharp.html

I personally like the Sams book Learning C# in 24 hours. The Murat C# book is also good. Try the MSDN site for some free C# Videos. You will find these are based around using Visual Studio but they will be fine for teaching C# basics. You can download Visual Studio express for free.

If you like learning via videos try the learnvisualstudio.net site. They have loads of videos for a relatively small access fee. Again they are based around using Visual Studio but they have complete series on just making console applications which is ideal for learning the C# for Ninja.

Finally if you really want to get into Advanced C# and go on to write your own applications the App Dev videos courses are really excellent.

[mountainclimber]

Unless you want to be a C# programmer or you will do something super super advanced that NT doesn't support, I DON'T recommend taking the time to learn C# in a board sense. There is some much in C# that you don't need to know to be an expert programmer in NinjaScript. ....Unless you have time on your hands and just want to do it.... It can't hurt except for taking your time...

[canthony]

Many Thanks

I would like to thank Mountainclimber, MicroAl and NinjaTrader_Bertrand for the great advice...its exactly what I was looking for. I am looking forward to jumping right in and will spend the weekend reviewing all your links.

Many thanks.

[rymoore]

I've recently published an e-book and video course that is a good introduction to NinjaScript Strategy development, assuming you have some C# development background:

http://www.strategyminer.net/

Enjoy!

[eschroeter]

Does anyone know if Ninjatrader allows for programming using 3rd party proprietary indicators without knowing the coding of those indicators? Most of the time that coding is locked up. But can't you code an indicator that simply uses the output from those proprietary indicators without having to see the construction of the proprietary indicators (which in most cases isn't possible).

For instance, let's suppose you have a proprietary 3rd party moving average indicator. You want to program an indicator that signals when this moving average crosses over a threshold. Do you need to know the construction of the proprietary moving average to program your indicator, or can you simply reference the output of the proprietary moving average when constructing your indicator?

[sledge]

Does anyone know if Ninjatrader allows for programming using 3rd party proprietary indicators without knowing the coding of those indicators? Most of the time that coding is locked up. But can't you code an indicator that simply uses the output from those proprietary indicators without having to see the construction of the proprietary indicators (which in most cases isn't possible).

For instance, let's suppose you have a proprietary 3rd party moving average indicator. You want to program an indicator that signals when this moving average crosses over a threshold. Do you need to know the construction of the proprietary moving average to program your indicator, or can you simply reference the output of the proprietary moving average when constructing your indicator?

It depends.

This thread is pretty relevant to your questions:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=70806&highlight=access+indicator