[R-sig-finance] Backtest trading strategies

[Rob Steele]

Neuro LeSuperHéros wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I understand the utility of MySQL for data storage.  But why is Python 
> essential?  What does it do that R can't do for system 
> creation/calculation?
> 
> Thanks


Python is great for parsing data from wherever you get it and populating 
databases.  MySQL is ideal for the write-once-read-thereafter scenario 
that research implies.  You can use R for the initial data marshaling 
if you'd rather not learn another language but Python seems like a 
better fit for that sort of thing.  It's a scripting language that 
integrates more naturally into its host environment.  For analysis and 
visualization however, R absolutely rules.