It seems the best way to go is use IB's java API, however, I am an economist at heart and believe Java wont suit my needs as it is a pure programming language. My strategy in the smallest nutshell, will be, gamma scalping a straddle into earnings. I will need to be able to price an option using my inputs as well balance the greeks w.r.t my implied vol. R does this so easy, so am I really increasing my utility learning java from scratch? If the answer is a yes, what needs to be done, needs to be done.