Ask HN: What is a shopping cart and why wouldn't I just write my own?
Hi HN-
I'm having trouble understanding a very basic concept. I build an online store, and since I'm a programmer, I let the user collect their items in a table associated with their session id. Then, I compute the order total. My server goes to the payment gateway server and charges the credit card. Then I ship stuff. What is the purpose of a shopping cart and why would I pay for a 3rd party one? They all appear to require some kind of programming, but if I already know how to program, why wouldn't I just build my own?
Note: I'm not being a smart-ass, I really don't understand what I'm missing, but I'm obviously missing something. Can someone explain what a shopping cart is to an e-commerce newbie?
I'm having trouble understanding a very basic concept. I build an online store, and since I'm a programmer, I let the user collect their items in a table associated with their session id. Then, I compute the order total. My server goes to the payment gateway server and charges the credit card. Then I ship stuff. What is the purpose of a shopping cart and why would I pay for a 3rd party one? They all appear to require some kind of programming, but if I already know how to program, why wouldn't I just build my own?
Note: I'm not being a smart-ass, I really don't understand what I'm missing, but I'm obviously missing something. Can someone explain what a shopping cart is to an e-commerce newbie?
Thanks for any help, Karl