Rating: 
Summary: This book is for newbies, too
Review: This book is a must have if ASP is the code of your choice in ecommerce. I am a newbie at programming and knew almost nothing about ASP, SQL, n-tier architechure and COM+ prior to reading this book, but it held my hand through each step so that I could follow along and understand what was happening. I liked the way WROX publishing shows you the code, tells you how it works, and then try it out, explaining each line and method.Best of all, at the end of the book you actually have a very functional website (I believe according to Microsoft specifications) that can be modified and added onto easily. Our business is now up on the web and we are very happy with the way it works. Downloading the source code from WROX is not hard. Although there are a few errors in it they have all been corrected and published in the errata section of the WROX.com website for the book. I actually believe that the author tried out the code and was happy with it before publication. Now for the main draw back. If you want to get the most from this book you need to buy some expensive software, which I purchased and found to be a great investment, namely Visual Studio (for the InterDev and Visual Basic) and SQL Server 2000 on a Windows 2000 operating system. As of the middle of 2002 I couldn't purchase the SQL Server 7.0 (it was upgraded to SQL Server 2000) or MTS (it was integraded into the Windows 2000 operating system) so that I could use my Windows98. But, this doesn't apply if you know someone with the above legacy software and they let you use theirs or if you get it from EBay. Happy programming. Harry
Rating:
Summary: Very Comprehensive E-Commerce Guide
Review: This book is an excellent way of getting your hands wet in the e-commerce arena. It is very comprehesive and guides you step by step over the basics in implemeting an online store. It goes into fine detail explaining the basics behind ASP and SQL, and does a great job explaining n-tier solutions. And if the book is not enough, there is a great forum in the wrox web site in which most questions are answered by its members. It is a must buy guide if you're trying to deploy your own e-commerce site.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book for intermediate+ programmers
Review: This is a good book for intermediate to advanced VB programmers that want to get a good handle on e-commerce. There are lots of errors, and the WROX errata webpage is TERRIBLE. For a publisher of such great programming books, WROX needs to get a better web page, it is pure crap. There is also one irritating thing about this book. The author is from England and writes all the code from that perspective, putting in Englands equivalent of sales tax the VAT on all sales and does not give any suggestions to change that, which is not that big of a deal. The book, though, will give you great insight as to how ecommerce works. The step by step instructions are not hard to follow, however, some of the more complex tasks he simply tells you to code them he does not explain them.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book except for one major problem
Review: This is a great book if you want to get familiar with a lot of tech (VB, ASP, MTS, SQL, etc) however it fails to mention an important road block until the 12th chapter. MOST WEB HOSTS do not allow custom dll's!!! The one's that do charge a hefty hourly fee to look over your source code, test it, and then install it (not including the usual setup fee and monthly fee). If you colocate your own box or if you have a dedicated server somewhere, then this doesn't apply to you. It's a great learning tool but I don't think it's practical to call it "Beginning". A much simpler shopping cart and checkout application written in ASP and using an Access backend would have been sufficient to learn the basic concepts behind a full blown ecommerce solution.
Rating:
Summary: Beginning e-commerce is not beginning programming.
Review: This is a great book, but don't be confused by the title. You should at least have beginning VB and ASP under your belt before taking it on. It also brings in SQL and XML. If you are willing to just follow some parts of the book without full understanding, it will still be worth your while to build the project. The best thing about Wrox, which I don't see people mentioning, is their e-mail support. With many prgramming books I have had to abandon projects when some key function would not work. When I got into a jam with Beginning E-Commerce, I just wrote to Wrox's tech support, got a responce the next day, and got things back on track.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a Great book, but it focuses on many items at the time and dont quite explain the items as they should. This book is allways a must, for all the people interested in getting started in e-commerce because it takes a tour to all the tech knowledge needed to implement e-commerce solutions.
Rating: 
Summary: You can this a beginning book?
Review: This is book is a great -reference- book if you are some sort of wizard in developing vb components. :( Unfortunetely most of us don't host our own websites... and ISP don't usually allow custom dll's, so I didn't find this book very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is the book for anyone looking for the correct way to develop using the evolving MS DNA model. Certainly you need to take percaution on the "homegrown" VB COM components. Meaning, either host your own site or find an ISP before you hope to deploy. There are ISP's out there who will work with you. The author lays it out step by step on the core components for a solid site. If you are a little confused along the way, just keep going. By the time you are done, you will see the complete project. Once your there, you will understand why this is the best way to develop web applicatons.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a good book
Review: This is the first Wrox book I read and... I like it. Ok, admitted, hosting your own dll's is a problem but in general I like the book. It actually explores more topics than I expected. To comment on some of the other reviews stating this is not really a book for beginners I can only say, look at the cover. Didn't any of you see the black bar at the top where it states Programmer to Programmer?? To me this indicates some prior knowledge is required.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: Well my title may be a little misleading, but for a book entitled "BEGINNING E-Commerce", it is not very good at teaching basic concepts. The author covers many things that a beginner may have a tough time grasping, such as building your own VB objects to connect to things like a database (Why not just keep it simple and do it straight out of ASP?). All the things he discusses could have all been done had he simply gave examples using VB Objects, actually explained them well, then simply used the same components straight out of ASP. If youre a beginner you may be dissapointed.
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