[thelist] Backend of a shopping cart system...

[lordcutter at telocity.com]

Using a db is a better choice, if not now - for the
future. While it will be a chore to migrate, you will
be able to extend your system any number of ways.
Mailing list for product updates.
Boolean searching.
Better security.

my 2cents.
Cameron






"Chris Blessing" wrote

>
> Hey folks-
>
> I've been assigned the project of creating a shopping
cart system for my
> company's website.  We just wanted to implement basic
Amazon-esque features
> as well as a coupon system, and at this point I'm
done.  The way I've
> written it, however, is beginning to be challenged by
myself in my dreams,
> so I need some input. =)
>
> I wrote this cart system knowing that our servers are
not over-loaded and
> that our site is not extremely busy, nor is it the
nature of the site to get
> extremely busy.  The backend of it all is composed of
a function library I
> wrote for adding items, removing items, displaying
cart information, etc.  I
> implemented the whole thing using arrays (2d arrays,
specifically) based on
> some material I read on 4guysfromrolla.com.  While it
works beautifully, I
> can't help but wonder if the system would be a bit
more scalable and perhaps
> easier to maintain and add to (later on, if
necessary) if it was based on a
> database rather than arrays.
>
> For example, Joe adds an item to his cart.  Right now
this is an added
> element in the main cart array, but it could just as
easily be an inserted
> row in a database table.  Right now, if Joe removes
that item, I have to
> create a temp array and loop through the original
cart array, copying every
> item except the deleted one into that array, then
destroying the old array.
> With a db system, I could just delete it and be done
with it.
>
> It would also be a lot easier to implement the coupon
system, since I have
> to hit the database server anyhow to get the coupon's
information.
>
> My question is then, should I stick with arrays or
move to the db?  The db
> server is a separate machine, not terribly
overloaded, and the system specs
> are great (quad-proc, 4gb ram, etc.).  I just don't
know if there's any
> performance benefit to be gained from this though,
since the arrays ARE
> local and ARE residing in memory constantly,
therefore access to them is
> very fast, whereas the db server is across a network.
>
> Any thoughts/input are much appreciated!
>
> Chris Blessing
> webguy at mail.rit.edu
> http://www.330i.net
>
> --
> For unsubscribe and other options, including
> the Tip Harvester and archive of thelist go to:
> http://lists.evolt.org Workers of the Web, evolt !