Hello everyone ,I am following this great site from quite some time now and I would like to have a
feedback on an idea.
I would like to write a real debugger for MT4 since to me it is really a pain in the back to write complex code without a debugger.
Since the work would be quite long and probably complex as well I would like to have some feedback from you MT4 coders on what you think about going commercial with this, for example a reasonable price.
I mean a real debugger with breakpoints ,quick watch on variables etc etc.
Any feedback is welcome.
ClarkFX is correct, MT5 has a more developed debugger with most of those features. I guess we don’t know how long people are going to keep using MT4 to make it a worth while project. They really are starting to try and push MT5 out there.
Hi guys,thanks for your reply. I had a look at MT5 (which has debugging features) but the main problem is that it does not support hedging. Now, while I don’t hedge in any of my strategies,problem is that i have different EAs working on the same pair.This is a problem because you can only open positions in one direction at a time.
Also ,coding for MT5 requires a lot more coding skill in my opinion.
I wonder how many coders are actually moving to MT5 in reality…
The debugger in MT5 actually isn’t that great, I would like what you call a quick watch on variables as using print statements everywhere is kinda tedious. I am only learning to trade which means I am spending more time doing that as opposed to learning MT5 (or even 4 for that matter). When I was demoing with certain brokers one had mt5 as a supported platform. MT4 will be around for a while I assume. How much work is there in writing an advanced debugger for MT4 ?
I have a little experience with MQL5’s debugger and noticed that code development was much easier for testing. So a useful debugger for MQL4 would have to have its feature’s as a minimum. I am not expecting a professional grade product. The price would have to to very low t, say < 50.
Hi, as a matter of fact I already have a basic version in place although it is bugged as hell.No graphics,only console window ,but it has step by step,variables watch and breakpoints working.
I guess it would take a full month to make a professional product though.
I’d be very interested in a proper debugger for MT4.
I don’t see MT4 being dumped for MT5 any time soon as there’s no backward compatibility. I for one have my own indicators and EA’s which I don’t relish having to reprogram in C for the sake of a software upgrade. It ain’t broke enough to want to fix it.
It’s not only the hedging … to the best of my knowledge MT5 enforces FIFO (yet another dumb CFTC requirement), too.
While not everybody is hedging, being forced to close positions in the same order they have been opened (which is what the FIFO rule enforces) is extremely infeasible for manual traders and renders a large percentage of EAs useless.
I therefore think that MT4 will be around for a long time still … unless MT5 will come in two versions: one for the US and one for the rest of the world (which so far is still permitted to trade freely and as they see fit).
Should MetaQuotes really discontinue MT4 without offering adequate solutions to the hedging and FIFO issues with MT5, I’m sure the majority of traders now using MT4 will switch trading platforms.