Which Bloomberg API are you interested in - ActiveX, RTD or DDE???

If you understand the syntax of RTD and DDE then you know how the bloomberg
RTD and DDE servers work. The ActiveX control is a switchable
synchronous/asynchronous control allowing the user to send two arrays - one
of n tickers and one of m fields and then receive an n x (m+1) array of data
back.

You cannot really do anything with the ActiveX control on a non-Bloomberg
PC, the RTD and DDE calls are the same in style as any other implementation.

The typical differences between being the excel monkey on a trade floor and
the excel monkey in an industrial firm is:
1. The users are a lot smarter
2. The hours are longer
3. Money is a lot better ( a City of London based spreadsheet monkey can
pull in about £350 - £750 per day as a contractor)
4. Key difference - you have to understand a lot more about the business -
you need to understand what you are dealing with and think out of the box.
This is why computer science graduates are usually not successful as trade
floor spreadsheet monkeys - they are great programmers and very clever, but
not business aware and typically unwilling to learn the business.
5. Less about how clever you are and more focus on the value you deliver -
you might think that something is trivial (can you make this make a noise
when the price is greater than X) but it can drive a lot of profit.
6. Fairly meritocratic - if you deliver and add value you can ask for more
money and get it.


All based upon about 10 years of working for Investment banks, hedge funds,
investment managers, software houses supplying them and for myself.



--
www.alignment-systems.com


"12Keys" wrote:

Hi all,

Does anybody have examples of using the Bloomberg API with Excel VBA?

Or any other examples of "real time" systems built using Excel VBA?

Alternatively, can any of the professionals give me some advice about
the way in which Excel development takes place in Investment banks?

I have never worked in this sector and was curious about how the nature
of projects differ, from other sectors I have worked in.

Please advise,

Many thanks for your help in advance,