Why Trading softwares breakdown when they are upgraded

G

gmst

Trading software often experience break in performance/weird unexpected behavior/very basic functionality also breaks down ALWAYS post an upgrade. And their technical teams spend months trying to fix a wide gamut of these issues.

This doesn't happen with non-trading related more established software companies. I will take the example of one of the most widely used and most intensely hated software companies - yes you guessed it right -- I am talking about Microsoft. When they launch their new versions of Office, older functionality doesn't break down.

Example: In new version of Excel, if you use the function =SUMPRODUCT(), it works....it doesn't break down. New version of office doesn't suddenly crashes without any reason. Earlier worksheets still work, earlier worksheets don't become suddenly corrupt.

But such problems always happen with trading software. I will give example of IB and Multicharts because I use IB and MC. I am very very sure this problem plagues other softwares as well, be it Ninja, Sierra Charts, TradeStation etc. One look at Multicharts forums post a new release or the lists of bug fixes they do clearly shows the kind of breakdowns these software experience after they are released in production. Lets look at this thread that shows so many problems and bugs in a production version.

http://www.multicharts.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45775
http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?t=160107

I wonder What is the reason?
 
Mods - Please note that this thread is not against any particular software, I have just taken example of IB and MC because I use them for my trading. So, please don't delete this thread as I am not going to bash any sponsors in this thread, I am just asking questions from the community to better understand software development and roll-out process.

So, why does Trading software breakdown or experience a lots of bugs compared to other more established softwares like MS - office??

1) Trading software vendors do very limited testing compared to MS?
2) Programmers who work for Ninja, TS, MC, Amibroker, Sierra etc. are piss poor programmers and write highly unorganized and error prone code compared to programmers working for bigger non-trading software firms?
3) Real time system programming that is required in trading is the most important cause for so many bugs? If so, then why NASA rocket launches do not suffer from so many bugs?
4) Any other reason?
 
AMTD/TOS exporting to Excel has been broke since their update 10 days ago..... if I knew a reliable way to import stock quotes into Excel I'd do it.

I wish I could get the old version back ... oh and answer to your post is that upgrades don't get tested before the get put out.

I won't use Chrome because they upgrade+break whatever the fixed in a previous version CONSTANTLY.
 
gmst said:
Trading software often experience break in performance/weird unexpected behavior/very basic functionality also breaks down ALWAYS post an upgrade. And their technical teams spend months trying to fix a wide gamut of these issues.

This doesn't happen with non-trading related more established software companies. I will take the example of one of the most widely used and most intensely hated software companies - yes you guessed it right -- I am talking about Microsoft. When they launch their new versions of Office, older functionality doesn't break down.

Example: In new version of Excel, if you use the function =SUMPRODUCT(), it works....it doesn't break down. New version of office doesn't suddenly crashes without any reason. Earlier worksheets still work, earlier worksheets don't become suddenly corrupt.

But such problems always happen with trading software. I will give example of IB and Multicharts because I use IB and MC. I am very very sure this problem plagues other softwares as well, be it Ninja, Sierra Charts, TradeStation etc. One look at Multicharts forums post a new release or the lists of bug fixes they do clearly shows the kind of breakdowns these software experience after they are released in production. Lets look at this thread that shows so many problems and bugs in a production version.

http://www.multicharts.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45775
http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?t=160107

I wonder What is the reason?
More...

Actually, MS doesn't do a better job ... try using Outlook 2013 on gmail using IMAP, and see how that generates GBs of traffic *daily* ... or try using Excel 2013 with large-size spreadsheets (mine are routinely in the 50MB+ range), and see how it crashes all the time.

Producing quality software takes a lot of resources & time, of which a good chunck should go to testing ... but testing is most often half-done, and you know the outcome.

In fairness, most software are incredibly complex nowadays, making the development & testing so difficult, despite all the nice tools.
 
gmst said:
2) Programmers who work for Ninja, TS, MC, Amibroker, Sierra etc. are piss poor programmers and write highly unorganized and error prone code compared to programmers working for bigger non-trading software firms?
More...

Does the bold one mean that you have stolen all source codes and completely reviewed from start to finish?
This joke of a statement that does not hold any fact just confirms that you possibly have written just some 10 lines of code at maximum in your whole life. One of the funniest stuff I have read in a long time.
 
I was told by a Microsoft engineer that the marketing department controls when a product gets released regardless if whether it works at all. So when "release day" arrives, whatever piece of trash they have in development goes out the door. And that's why there are thousands of updates in the lifetime of a piece of trash software.

For trading software, Trading Technologies is the best on the planet.
 
InterestingUser said:
Does the bold one mean that you have stolen all source codes and completely reviewed from start to finish?
This joke of a statement that does not hold any fact just confirms that you possibly have written just some 10 lines of code at maximum in your whole life. One of the funniest stuff I have read in a long time.
More...

Mate, its interesting that you had to make a new identity to reply to this post. Possibly this means we have interacted before on ET and you didn't want to write such a comment with your previous handle so you created a new handle :D

Anyways, with due respect to your query, I count myself as a beginner programmer with very limited experience. Not counting Easylanguage, I have written 2 separate small projects consisting of 1300 lines of code in VB and 1500 lines of code in VB. That kind of describes the little programming experience I have. And all this code is self-written, not stolen.

Now, if you can add to the original discussion by sharing your insights as to why trading software breaksdown so often after an upgrade, I will be grateful :)
 
gmst said:
Mate, its interesting that you had to make a new identity to reply to this post. Possibly this means we have interacted before on ET and you didn't want to write such a comment with your previous handle so you created a new handle :D

Anyways, with due respect to your query, I count myself as a beginner programmer with very limited experience. Not counting Easylanguage, I have written 2 separate small projects consisting of 1300 lines of code in VB and 1500 lines of code in VB. That kind of describes the little programming experience I have. And all this code is self-written, not stolen.

Now, if you can add to the original discussion by sharing your insights as to why trading software breaksdown so often after an upgrade, I will be grateful :)
More...

No, definitely not had interaction with a joker like that before anywhere in this craziness of Internet.

Wow, you have written 2800 lines (including 2799 empty lines) in you whole life. That's "awesome"!! Easy language. Wow!! VB. Wow!! What a master expert we have here. I'm speechless and in absolute awe of you. *deepest bow ever seen*

Now what about the source codes of the softwares you were talking about. Millions of lines. Where are the facts about "piss poor highly unorganized and error prone code"? By reading your funny post you make it look like as if you would have kind of Wikileaks insight knowledge in regards to all source codes of mentioned softwares. Where are the papers to your claims? Or just hot air? Poopy doo?

Besides that I hope you know the difference between alpha, beta, RC.
 
gmst said:
What is the reason?
More...

Some companies emphasize testing more than others before releasing software. It is possible that the culture of the trading industry results in decision makers downplaying the importance of testing software (afterall, the company exists to facilitate trading, not coding).

That being said, I suspect you are encountering a sample bias here. I think all software developers suffer from bad testing in one form or another mainly because it is a very hard problem to solve.
 
InterestingUser said:
No, definitely not had interaction with a joker like that before anywhere in this craziness of Internet.
More...
After your first attacking post on this thread, I remained as polite with you as possible so that the conversation doesn't get degraded. But, it is clear that instead of sharing your views on the issue, you are indulging in personal attacks.

I request you to stop polluting this thread and go to some other thread. Thank You!
 
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