Work Sample Test

This project is divided into two parts; a backend running on framework called Sinatra, and a frontend interface that runs in a browser. To get the project, you can download it as a zip file, unzip it and place it in the location of your choice, or if you know how to use Git, you can clone the Git repository from Github.

#Step 1.

To run the backend, first you'll have to install an interpreter for the Ruby programming language (version 2.2.2). How you do this depends on what operating system you're using. If you already have Ruby v2.2.2 installed, you can skip ahead to step 2.

##OS X All modern versions of OS X ship with a Ruby interpreter, but it's not version 2.2.2, so you'll need to install that version. The easiest way to install Ruby on OS X is to use a package manager called Homebrew.

Installation instructions for Homebrew and Ruby v2.2.2 can be found here (just install ruby and ignore the section about installing Rails--you won't need it for this project): https://gorails.com/setup/osx/10.10-yosemite

##Linux: If you're running Linux, you have the option of using a built in package manager to install Ruby, but most people recommend you use a tool called rbenv.

Installation instructions for Ubuntu 15.04 can be found here (just install Ruby and ignore the section about installing Rails--you won't need it for this project): https://gorails.com/setup/ubuntu/15.04

##Windows The easiest way to set up Ruby on Windows is by using the RubyInstaller for Windows located here: http://rubyinstaller.org/

The recommended development environments are Linux and OS X, because some of the commands Step 2 may fail on Windows.

#Step 2.

OK, now that you've got Ruby installed you need to use Ruby's built in package manager called RubyGems.

Open a command prompt and type 'gem install bundler', then press enter. After that's done, navigate to the directory where you placed the Stocksplosion project.

Once you're in the project directory type 'bundle install', then press enter. Bundler will download all the gems needed to run the project.

#Step 3. The project is now all setup and ready to go. From the project directory type 'ruby app.rb', press enter, and the server will launch.

Open a browser, navigate to "http://localhost:4567", and the frontend interface will be displayed.

Now all you have to do is enter in a ticker symbol and an autocomplete widget will pop up. You can press tab to fill in the input box with the first hint in the widget, or use the up and down arrows to navigate. Once you select a hint you can press enter or tab to fill in the input box.

After the input box is filled in, press enter to display recent performance and an automated buy, sell, or wait decision.

The automated buy sell decision uses a simple moving average crossover strategy. You can read more about that here: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/052014/how-use-moving-average-buy-stocks.asp