MQL5 Programming for Traders – Source Codes from the Book. Part 7 – EA MetaTrader 5
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Part 7. Advanced MQL5 tools
of the “MQL5 Programming for Traders” book discusses the advanced capabilities of the MQL5 API, which will be useful when developing programs for MetaTrader 5. These include custom financial symbols, built-in economic calendar events, and general-purpose technologies such as networking, databases, and cryptography.
This part covers libraries – a special program type that provides ready-made APIs for connecting to other MQL programs. It also discusses the possibility of developing software packages and combining logically interconnected programs into projects.
Finally, this part presents integrations with other software environments, including Python.
We will start by studying resources which are files of any type that can be embedded in the program code. Resources may contain:
Multimedia elements
“Hard” settings from external programs
Other MQL5 programs in compiled form
The MQL5 development environment allows the inclusion of application data arrays, images, sounds, and fonts in the source file, making the program a self-sufficient and convenient product for the end user.
Special attention will be given to graphic resources with raster images in BMP format: You will learn how to create, edit, and display them dynamically on the chart.
We will conclude the final part of the book by studying the OpenCL integration in MQL5. OpenCL is an open standard for parallel programming in multiprocessor systems, including graphics processors (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs). It enables the acceleration of computationally intensive tasks provided that the algorithms can be parallelized. These may include training neural networks, Fourier transform, and solving systems of equations.
OpenCL utilization in MQL programs requires the presence of special drivers from the manufacturer and support for OpenCL version 1.1 and higher. The presence of a graphics card is not mandatory, as the central processor can also be used for parallel computing.
