I just want to smash all programming languages

I'm learning all about financial stuff right now. I read a bit about stock and think 'Hm, I'd like a little program to hook up and keep track of stock I like'. I look around the web for programs or websites that will do this for me, but I don't like any of them, none of them are what I want. So I think "I'm a programmer, I'll write it myself".

But writing something even remotely complex makes me feel guilty. See, I want to start my own company, so any software I write I would like to be able to sell (or at least give away free for others to use). So I try and think of a way to make it more generic, while doing what I want.

Also, what would be more useful I wonder - a website that you register with or a program you run on your desktop? Well I'd prefer the web app because I spend a lot of time at work and at home, so something on the web would save me having to transport the files back and forth. But web sites are slow.

So I decide I'll go with the web site. I'm a C# programmer so I think I'll go with ASP.NET. I launch Visual Studio, but then I realise I'm using Visual Studio 2005 beta, and none of my web hosts support it. So I install Visual Studio 2003, and realise it has terrible CSS support in the designer and its just too much of a pain to use for something thats not really all that complex.

So I decide PHP is the way to go. I used to do a lot of PHP back in the day, and figure it can't have changed much. I was hoping to use an OOP approach, so go to check out PHP's class support. The new stuff in version 5 looks good I think. Oh, but my web host only has 4.3.1.

So, I begin with PHP 4.3.1. I get a tiny bit of the way into it, but then I go to parse the XML feed the stock prices are coming from. Crap - PHP's XML support is nothing compared to C#'s. Yuck. I scrap the idea.

So I go to writing a desktop application. But again I am forced to use Visual Studio 2003 since none of my users will have 2005 anytime soon. I see all the icons I've got don't look good under 2003, my brain is clogged and I can't think of any good designs for the program, and its all a lot of work. Something like this feels like it should only take one day to do properly, but I can tell it will take longer.

Why hasn't someone invented the language to fix all this mess that does everything good and has no faults?

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Why hasn't someone invented the language to fix all this mess that does everything good and has no faults?

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No one says you only have to use one tool. Would you build a house armed only with a screwdriver?

But they did, its called assembly. Everything you want to do is there.

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Originally Posted by Stoned_Coder

No one says you only have to use one tool. Would you build a house armed only with a screwdriver?

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It'd be fun trying... just a screwdriver, some wood, and a bunch of nails. :cool:

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Originally Posted by stovellp

So, I begin with PHP 4.3.1. I get a tiny bit of the way into it, but then I go to parse the XML feed the stock prices are coming from. Crap - PHP's XML support is nothing compared to C#'s. Yuck. I scrap the idea.

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Don't give up so easily.

Thanks guys, my headache has subsided and I am going to stick with PHP. I'll use code generation and just try and work with PHP how it is. I'm also going to change web hosts to one that supports PHP 5.

Sorry for the rant.

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Originally Posted by Zach L.

It'd be fun trying... just a screwdriver, some wood, and a bunch of nails. :cool:

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hehe, good luck trying to screw those nails in! :p

>> Why hasn't someone invented the language to fix all this mess that does everything good and has no faults?

They have, it's called python ;)

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hehe, good luck trying to screw those nails in!

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Obviously you're not a master craftsman like me. You just dig a hole for the nail using the pointy end of the screwdriver, then hammer it home with heavy end.

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Originally Posted by stovellp

Thanks guys, my headache has subsided and I am going to stick with PHP. I'll use code generation and just try and work with PHP how it is. I'm also going to change web hosts to one that supports PHP 5.

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I'm sure there are some XML classes out there for PHP 4.* =]

>>, I'd like a little program to hook up and keep track of stock I like'.

I do this for a company in Australia that then rebadges for the banks ect...
It only takes around 4 million lines of code. In ASP for the web, C++ for the COM+ middleware and VB for apps.

Good Luck!

How are you going to get the stock price feed? I didn't think the ASX would give out that info for free.....

Nah it's easy peasy. There are RSS feeds people have created from Yahoo! Finance, and if worst comes to worse I'll datamine the Yahoo! Finance web pages. I'd simply get todays closing price, store it in the database, and look at it every few days to see if it's rising.

Is your software called ShareWatch by any chance?

Edit: Golly, TradingRoom.com.au seem to do exactly what I want :D