Customer Reviews

The Web Developer's Guide To Amazon E-Commerce Service: Developing Web Applications Using Amazon Web Services And PHP

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the only resource I've been able to find that pulls together the current information on Amazon's E-Commerce Service platform *and* applies it to PHP development. I wouldn't say I have the deepest PHP skills in the world, but I found that I could easily apply the exercises in this book to my own projects.

It helps that the book is well-written and engaging (something I've come to NOT expect from the tech-book mills that usually churn out books like this).

I just got done reading and hacking the book and have found many new ways in which to interface with amazon.com web services. The book delivers on its title and does so to a broad audience in a clean style. You will need to understand XML technologies at a beginner's level and be proficient in PHP in order to fully utilize this book. Novices can also learn from this book.
Thanks Jason Levitt

Some of the reviewers seem to be wishing for a "..for Dummies" book. This aint it. What this book is is an excellent overview of the entire Amazon e-commerce platform from the perspective of a web developer. It is written by a web developer for web developers, full stop. And as far as that statement is true, this is an excellent (and inexpensive 8-) resource.

That said, there is most certainly an opportunity for some author out there to write a down and dirty guide to Amazon e-commerce for folks with mom'n'pop websites. Indeed, how about a down'n'dirty guide to amazon/ebay/google/yahoo services..as well as RSS..you name it? A gaping hole in the market IMHO.

Well, I digress: the current book is excellent and heartily recommended to developers and tech-savvy website managers who don't mind skipping some gory details to read a very good overview of what Amazon has on offer.

I am relative novice when it comes to using web services but I have some experience with PHP. I found the examples in this book very useful for illustrating how to get up and running quickly while giving a good foundation for more experimentation. The Author does not give away all of the answers to building a complete Amazon app which I found to be be nice because it made me think of other more imaginative ways to use them.

Response to "not much support..."
I'm not sure if this person wanted a different kind of book (perhaps a beginner's tutorial) or simply free support. In any case, his claim that he is "not a web developer" makes the purchase of "The Web Developer's Guide..." a questionable decision. I do provide numerous *working* scripts that are free to download -- you can run many of them from the home page of the book web site by simply clicking on a link. My scripts are meant to teach the fundamental concepts of Amazon E-Commerce Service 4.0. If he needs a forum to learn more about E-Commerce Service, the link to Amazon's forums is also on my book web site. As far as support, my scripts work. If he wants to modify them, reading and understanding my book will provide much of what he needs to know.
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Response to "Good Start..."
I appreciate Mr. Nikolic's compliments, but, as far as his criticisms, it sounds like he had a very certain set of expectations, and the book didn't meet them.
He correctly points out that I do not include a "list of all elements returned for any response group." I deliberately left out that list (it's just a reference list, nothing more) because it changes fairly often, and would have required that I add many extra pages to the appendix -- I simply didn't feel that was worth the added book costs and size. I *do* provide the reader with an easy way to access the list (see page 92) using their web browser, or they can simply download the WSDL file and use that. Those lists are guaranteed to be current.
(...) For most of the code samples, you can simply put them on a web server and run them. For others, you need to learn some things about Amazon (or buy the book). Ultimately, the Sourceforge project is just an archive and feedback forum for the samples, not a full-fledged API or source library.
He calls the scripts "too inflexible," but provides no specifics at all about what is too infexible about them. My scripts aren't designed to be general-purpose. They illustrate specific concepts (how to traverse browse nodes, how to retrieve product variations, how to use a remote cart, how to access wishlists, etc.), but are easily extended or modified to use for other purposes.
I give myself five stars because I put a lot of work into this book, and I had to make some hard choices about how to cover the material -- what to leave out and how to teach it.

If you're serious about learning the Amazon commercial API's, I can't imagine a better organized source. From API evolution and internationalization to web services alternatives to in-depth chapters on itemSearch, pagination, sorting, product details & variations. How do you find information on customer vs. sellers? How do you implement remote carts?

Succinctly written and chock full; I really can't fathom what more the other reviewers were expecting. I'm just tickled silly that all this information is gathered and presented so easily ... and for such a reasonable price.

Thank you - for the tremendous effort it must certainly have taken - to put this together. I am very grateful.

I think this book is great, first time I have seen it advertized I thought: "I have to get this". Have not finished reading it yet, I am about one third through, but I think one of the big flaws (if not indeed the author meant it that way) is that it dives into XML / WSDL / SOAP too soon or too sudden... at least for me. By the time I have started understanting how everything is organized in the scheme of things, it was all about that, and I personally don't have experience --- a lot with these things.

Another thing I don't particularly enjoy is the presentation is intertwined -- PHP 4 and PHP 5. At times this is confusing and if you just browse trough trying to find something randomly, you always have to read back a little bit to find out whether it's about PHP 4 or 5.

Otherwise, I am pretty happy with it and can't wait to actually start implementing some things I heave learned in this book in my own applications.

Amazon has done an amazing job of creating a very simple API, which Jason Levitt does an excellent job of explaining. Easy to read, easy to comprehend, now let's see what kind of user interface you can build with this tool. And maybe, just maybe, someone will benefit from what you've built, buy something from Amazon, and you can share in the sale.

This is a great resource for introductory information on how amazon web sales WORKED back in 2005!
It is out dated information and the API they talk about isn't the one currently used. The methods to utilize amazon merchant features are also outdated.
Don't buy this book, they must have a newer version available or buy someone elses book on amazon marketing.
I would have returned it if I could have, as I said it is filled with interesting information....unfortunately it is grossly out of date and in computer programming interfaces that means...it is near worthless.

The info doesn't do a very good job explaining bits of the code. They just give you a few pages of code at a time and then shows you what the end result looks like. I would have preferred it covering less topics and explaining them better. This book is good if you already have a high traffic site and want to add another feature. Amazon web services may not be the best place if you are wanting to make some income from selling their stuff. The book says it is better if you have something to sell through amazon web services. I also couldn't get one example to work so I emailed the author but didn't get any reply.