SETUP AND FIRST STEPS

REQUIREMENTS
INSTALLATION

When FDC is provided on a disk, simply insert the disk and the setup program should start automatically.  If it does not, then double-click the CD Drive icon to open it and then double-click the “setup.exe” file.  Next, follow the directions given by InstallShield®.  Installation will include an “uninstall” file to use if you desire to remove FDC from your computer.  After installation, start the FDC program (a shortcut will be on the Start menu) and enter your Serial Number when prompted.  After inputting the serial number, the program will function properly.  This step should be done in a timely manner, since the Serial Numbers are date sensitive.

THE NATURE OF FDC

FDC is, in part, an extensive collection of functions for arranging, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying any sort of “Time Series”, that is dated or sequential data.  FDC also allows you to construct, test and graph almost any technical indicator, as well as explore the nature and frequency of occurrence of almost any pattern, all in plain English.  The key to FDC lies in its method of operation; a method that combines flexibility and power never before available, with an easy and natural style of operation.

FDC is not menu or icon-driven (although it has menus and icons, and uses them if they are natural and appropriate).  In order to understand FDC it is important to appreciate why it is English-language-driven.  No menu-driven software can possibly provide the benefits available with FDC for the following reasons:

1.  Paging up and down through layers of menus is awkward and time consuming.  The more familiar you become with what you want to accomplish, the more this process seems wasteful and annoying.

2.  More importantly, in menu-driven software, the user is limited to what the menus provide.  In some cases the options can be extended by the user, but usually this requires contortionist effort, and often additional programming.

3.  Most importantly, the menu options can only be selected one at a time, so that performing a number of operations in succession is a difficult and clumsy business, if at all possible.

There is an older mechanism for program operation that is just as simple to use as menus, more direct, and far more powerful.  This is the calculator interface, the familiar method by which you operate your pocket calculator.  With a calculator, you simply form an expression, as complicated as you wish.  The expression is evaluated, and the result is displayed.  This is possible because the result of any single operation can be used as input to any subsequent operation.  Thus the expression

2.19 - (( 371.2 + 41 ) * .11)

is easily evaluated on a calculator.  Imagine trying to perform this evaluation by repeatedly choosing arithmetic operations and data input from a menu and storing intermediate results.

FDC in effect, turns your computer into a super powerful calculator whose basic functions operate as easily on entire data series as those of an ordinary calculator does on numbers.  Most of the basic operations of FDC are named as the "verbs" that describe their function.  You simply need to form the expression or sentence that describes what you want, and such result is calculated and displayed.

Now, you can manipulate, save, edit, and update any data, either stored or generated, without separate programs.  You can form and modify an unlimited number of indicators and studies, either standard or of your own design, and include any or all of them as extensions to the language.  All of this requires no additional programming.

This is the basic philosophy and style that you should keep in mind, and try to cultivate, as you become familiar with FDC.

DATASETS

FDC works on Datasets [DS], which usually means dated series of numbers.  A Dataset is an array of data, such as one might find in a spreadsheet.  The first column always consists of dates, and subsequent columns can represent any type of data.  The data for each date forms a row of the Dataset.  FDC supports an almost unlimited number of data columns and rows.  For example, a new stock Dataset IPO might have six columns that represent respectively the daily open, high, low, and close prices, and two indicators for a period of 12 months.  A Dataset could just as easily have daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly commodity data, or contain the daily readouts for 20 computer-managed data probes at an oil refinery.

In contrast to most data manipulating programs, FDC can handle Datasets with missing entries, or in which the data in each column runs for a different set of dates.  Data can be edited by row, column or entry, and new data can easily be combined with old.  There is a conversion wizard that allows you to import data from several sources, and any data can be pasted in from a spreadsheet.

When created, each Dataset appears in its own window with data on one tab, a chart of the data on another, and a third tab for any notes you may want to include. Datasets can be saved with multiple plot tabs if desired. Certain specialized output may have other tabs. For example, the result of trade simulations will automatically have more than one plot tab, and will have an additional tab summarizing the results of the trade.  You can decide how to display the data on the charting side, and the possibilities are endless.  You have complete freedom to choose the number, size, and colors of “panes” in the charting window.  You can also decide on the type of plot for each data column independently.  When several Datasets are open at once, you can “cut, copy, and paste” from one to the other.  The charts automatically resize, and the data itself adjusts to reflect any additions. One of the user options will decide whether the data tab appears when the dataset is first created (the default), or whether a plot tab is displayed.

Data is “live” in the sense that it can be modified right on the display, and charts have capabilities not available with any other program – for example, you can not only draw trend lines, but when you then look at the data tab, the trend line appears as real data that can be further processed.  Later in the User’s Guide we will cover graphing aspects of the program in detail.

When FDC begins it “activates” all Datasets in a default directory, or in several directories that the user can set.  Datasets are not loaded into FDC, but are available to be used in FDC input lines when activated.  Activating Datasets keeps a tiny record of that data active, and only loads the data when needed.  Thus an FDC user can reference thousands of Datasets in input lines, where it would never be possible to actually retain that much data in active memory.  You can see all activated Datasets by choosing “Catalog” from the File Menu of any command window.

In addition to standard Datasets, you can have data that consists of a single number, or a sequence of numbers, not associated with a particular date.  This can happen if you apply a command that produces some sort of summary data (for example, the average of the numbers in each column of the Dataset).  You can also enter numbers and arithmetic symbols (+, -, *, /, ^)  on a command line and get the numerical result.  In other words, FDC also functions as an ordinary scientific calculator.

When the result of a calculation is a single number or undated sequence of numbers, the result appears on the status line of the command window in question.  This line, located at the bottom of the command window, always shows the result of the last such calculation, if any has been performed.

STARTING THE PROGRAM

When FDC is launched, the basic command window is visible, as shown below, and the default Datasets are activated.

FDC Command Window

You type a command on any line of the screen, press ENTER, and the command is executed. There are two types of execution. If the default type or "SHOW" type is chosen, and if the command line is the name of an activated Dataset, or an operation sequence that produces a Dataset, that Dataset appears in its own window.  Shown below is the window containing a Soybean contract for 1974.

1974 Soybean Futures Contract

At the bottom of the dataset are tabs, which when selected, enable you to view a standard default graph of the data, shown below, which is easily changed in any way desired.

One of the many standard plots of data

Multiple Datasets can be opened at once, and data and graphs can be exchanged between them.  You may even copy graphed data from one plot and paste it to another. The icons and menus that appear in the command window, and in the data and plot sides of any Dataset window, will be covered in detail later in the User's Guide.

In the "HIDE" type of execution, the windows do not show, but the dataset is computed and stored. Then you can see the data and plot windows by selecting the appropriate line in the command window, and pressing "F11", or choosing the "Toggle Show Hide" entry from the Edit menu. . The advantages of the Hide method include much quicker execution and not having so many windows to clutter up the work space. Also, the windows graphics memory is buit in to the computer, and cannot easily be changed. If enough windows are opened automatically (perhaps around 20), this memory becomes filled, and further work is impossible until some window is closed. In hidden mode you can make any number of computations, limited only by your ram size. These considerations are particularly important while using the automatic execution or "Play" button.

An alternative way to view data is to press the data wizard icon on the command screen:


When you do, the data wizard screen, shown below, appears. Select the first line "Catalog of saved Datasets", and you will be shown the screen below. If you press the first The first "Open" button, you will see the standard "Windows" dialog box for opening datasets, and it will start with the contents of the Data subdirectory of the FDC directory. It will show only FDC datasets, and you can navigate to any folder and open any number of such datasets. If you open datasets from a folder other than the Data folder (whose contents are registered with FDC on launch) then the newly opened datasets will also register with FDC, but only while it is open.

The second "Open" button will perform similarly, but for Ascii datasets. Any such sets chosen will be automatically translated into FDC form.

The "Reload Datasets" Button will purge all registered datasets, and reload just those in the Data subdirectory. GHw "Delete" button will not only purge an FDC dataset from registration, but will delete it from its folder.