Quote from spike500:
It's called the "academical approach". Some people get stuck in any attempt to get ready to test a system. The only problem is that they only discuss about the definition of words and the value of the data to be used to test. That's the farest they get. Their purpose is not to find or test a system; they only focus on finding the ultimate definition of the word "random" and on the fact whether random is random or not.
There is also the "practical approach". You take a few years of real data and do a test of a few thousand trades. You analyze the results statistically and you will know if the system is valid or not. Instead of breaking your head on the problem of random or not random data you break your head on the application of the system on real data.
The practical approach is used to trade succesfully.
The academical approach is used to train your brain or to kill time, i see no other value in this approach. This approach is a waste of time to me as i see not additional advantage to the practical approach.
You're absolutely right: the world is pretty much black and white, and things are either one way, or this other way. One way is clearly the correct way, and the other way is clearly incorrect; that makes things easy. Thanks for the reminder.