Tom Wheeler's NetBeans Platform Stock Trader Game

I created this game to serve as the example for an article I wrote (published in October 2005) about creating an application on the NetBeans Platform.

This is a relatively simple game, since the focus is of my article was on NetBeans and not on the classes and interfaces created for the game.

A few notable changes were made to simplify the implementation, as compared to a real stock trading scenario. Here are a few of them:

• All prices are quoted as int primitives (so we don't have indeterminate precision from the use of floating point values or have to deal with classes like BigDecimal that work around it.
• There's no brokerage commission on trades
• The price of a security remains constant for the entire day
• There is no capital gains tax
• There are no stock splits
• Your account's cash balance gains no interest
• You can't trade on margin
• The market is extraordinarily efficient, and all stocks react fully to any market news on the day it is delivered. Aside from the fact that today's prices are based somewhat on yesterday's prices, the effects of yesterday's news are not visible today.

However, I had tried to add enough realism that the game will be fun to play as well as provide a good example of an application on the NetBeans platform.

See my article for a detailed explanation of how to compile, run and play the game. If you happen to be reading this before October 3, 2005, then please wait a few more days for my article to be published.