Appendix. Setting up the environment
Some of you may prefer cloud services, while others of you prefer to use your own devices. Many programmers are familiar with specific tools to replace the ones shown in the book, allowing them to choose their final configuration independently. In this appendix, we list options for each category. We’ll demonstrate how to integrate cloud services, manage source code, select development environments, and export data.
To work with financial assets, you’ll need to register with a broker or exchange. In this book, I’ll demonstrate using Alpaca, Interactive Brokers, and Binance. You’re free to use other providers, but in that case, you’ll need to handle data access and integration on your own. Be aware that because these are platforms that host financial data, they require some extra security procedures such as a Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Suppose you feel uncomfortable with using a broker as a backend, or your broker doesn’t support remote access through an API. In that case, you can always create a small relational database that contains tables with all your positions.
This appendix highlights only the basic actions, but doesn’t explain all the details required for possible environments. For detailed instructions on setting up a framework or service for your specific environment, do some web research or consult a large language model (LLM).