Quote from: IrishBitcoin on May 24, 2013, 07:02:15 PM

I am a developer @patricklismore

I am putting together a bitcoin venture here in Ireland, still trying to get all the info for my project that has led me here.

@IrishBitcoin

http://www.IrishBitcoinExchange.com

https://github.com/lismore/bitcoin

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A few burnning questions

Where do I look (docs or code) to hook into the live market data so I can see show the live prices of Bitcoins on my site?
Can someone in a paragraph sum up how the bitcoin exchange works

> buyers > sellers > ([bc network / api] ?) , do we have a web api that allows developers to interface with the BC network not quite clear on this part of bitcoin?

How do all these bitcoin sites interface with the network, is it from this code base https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin

I would like to do a few things with Bitcoin in my project:

> An exchange (in Ireland) (buy/sell)
> Buy Direct from me/my venture/business/from own stock, registered users can fund account from bank acc & then use funded account with me to purchase Bitcoins on the exchange or with other registered users)

If someone could jump start my research in the right direction i'd be very grateful.

thanks Pat

Check this out for an example of an API.

https://classic.mtgox.com/support/tradeAPI

BTC-e also has their own respective API here: https://btc-e.com/api/documentation

If you're just going with Bitcoin than I'd recommend Gox for starters since it's got the greatest volume.

Each trading site generally has their own API for getting recent stats on buys & sells. When a user signs up and deposits or withdraws BTC they are in fact using a wallet. I believe each trade system has got bitcoind (a headless bitcoin daemon) installed on their server to serve as wallets for their clients. The wallets are managed by whatever language you would be comfortable with, php, ruby, etc.

EG: In PHP. If someone were to log in, then their account would be created for them, their info stored in a database; the usual stuff. If they want to deposit money, they click deposit on the front end. That action sends a request to bitcoind on the backend, requesting a new address be set up for deposit. The address info is stored in a database, associated with that user. Bitcoind checks for the amount deposited to that address and updates the database with the amount. If they want to withdraw, it's a similar process. I am of course paraphrasing but this is generally how I've thought to do it.

Bitcoind is in fact pretty easy to install on a linux-based server/VPS.

Here's a read you may find useful: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/PHP_developer_intro

There are several libraries in various languages to deal with bitcoind, find and pick your preferences.