Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL E-Commerce is the first book to show readers how to create a complete e-commerce driven website using two of the most popular open source technologies available today, the PHP scripting language and the PostgreSQL database server. With PHP popularity stronger than ever in light of last year's version 5 release, and PostgreSQL seeing a significant resurgence in interest throughout 2005 due to software enhancements and considerable capital injections through companies such as Pervasive, Greenplum, and EnterpriseDB, it's apparent that the integration of these two technologies will continue to grow, even in light of the already impressive long-standing capabilities available with used in conjunction with one another.

Where most books offer only glancing and non-specific references to e-commerce development, Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL E-Commerce assumes nothing of the reader and by its conclusion has guided him through all of the steps necessary to build a product catalog and working shopping cart, and integrate the site with the third-party banking services necessary to perform credit card transactions. The authors conclude by showing readers how to expand their product offerings and revenue streams by using Web services to integrate with other e-commerce sites such as Amazon.com and eBay.