Readings

  • #1 - Read Chapter2 of Excel 2019 Power Programming with VBA by Michael Alexander and Dick Kusleika.  Read the chapter before doing the homework on Excel macros. The Chapter introduces the Macro recorder.  Read up to "Comparing absolute and relative macro recording," then skip all except "Other macro recording concepts," "Macro security in Excel," and "Trusted locations."  Use the rest of the book and chapter as a reference if you get stuck.
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  • #2 - Skim the VB keyword dictionary by Microsoft. Use it as a reference that lists and explains all the keywords used by Visual Basic.
    Optional resource with examples, especially suited for beginners: Excel-Pratique : look for the concepts covered in class: e.g., variables, conditionals, and more
  • #3 - If you would like to skim a VBA handbook as a reference resource, see the learning resources section.
    Optional resource with examples, especially suited for beginners: Excel-Pratique: look at the concept covered in class: e.g., loops, procedures and functions, and more.
  • #4 - Three optional SQL resources: A really nice SQL tutorial, the official resource for T-SQL which is the version of SQL adopted by Microsoft, and my own short & sweet brief on writing SQL queries.  Start from the last, and use the first two as references.
  • #5 - This O'Reilly book on pivot tables is a good resource understand what they are and how to use them.  Beginners: read  Pivot tables fundamentals - Chapter 1-2.   Intermediate and expert pivot tables users may skim the table of contents and use it as a reference book. If you do not see your institution from the drop-down menu, choose: Not listed? Click here, then enter your UVA email address to access content.
  • #6 - Delta and the Black Scholes model are a standard topic in Finance. If you have covered it in a previous Finance class, please review your notes from that class.  Else, read these introductions on Options, the Black-Scholes model and delta.