Slashdot Mirror
University Textbook Exchange Software
PageMap writes "With the textbook-buying season upon us, many universities and student organizations are attempting to combat the on-campus bookstore's overcharging by starting up their own grassroots book exchange efforts. The problem is the seeming lack of available web-based software to facilitate an efficient book exchange. Is there such a thing as free web-based software made for this type of use?"
www.php.net has all the software you need, although you might need a few other things, but they are free too.
;)
The customisation might take a while tho i guess
That wheel isnt round enough! Lets reinvent it.
How dare you say we (association of campus book stores) are overcharging students? You piece of shit! We're charging a fair price so you pampered little fuckers getting subsidized education on public dimes (mine included, but not willingly or happily so). You ingrate! I see you little pricks come in the store and I just know 99% of you weasels will amount to NOTHING despite your silver spoon fed pampered ass getting a paid education by daddy and taxpayer. If you don't like paying for the books, just photocopy them from a friend (not like you're buying music or movies now anyway, you copyright violating little fucks), or better yet, pay to have your papers written on your behalf and your exam grades altered.
You people make me sick! In fact, I'm almost tempted to bring a loaded semi-automatic with me to work tomorrow and see how fast I can make you fuckers run.
If they did that, they'd be a Canadian university.
...welcome our new bookswapping non-coding overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted Slashdot personality and accomplished programmer, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground book swapping software production caves.
(pssst...write your own software)
Anonymous? Not for me...I stand behind my comments!
At uni, we had this highly advanced object oriented system called a notice board. Students with books to sell instantiated a notice object (potentially sub-classed to add funcionality such as tear off phone numbers strips) and a drawing pin object. Combine the two with the singleton class noticeboard object and you have an advert.
You can sell your books back to the bookstore when you're done with them. You get money, the bookstore gets used books to sell at reduced price.
You local college bookstore is a great place to get stuff like ISBN numbers so that you can do a detailed lookup at amazon or elsewhere. This summer I called the UTA bookstore looking for ISBN numbers for a class of mine. What follows is the conversation:
:)
Me: "Hi there, I'm looking for the textbook for INSY 3300"
Bkstr: "Ok, that'd be this book. It's $90.00 new and $89.00 used"
Me: "Great! Could I get the ISBN number for that book?"
Bkstr: "No. We don't quote ISBNs and other info like that over the phone"
Me: "Why not?"
Bkstr: "Because we don't want you to buy stuff at Amazon instead." (actual quote
Me: "Why.....would.....umm....you expect me to do that??"
Later that day I went in person to the store and copied all the ISBNs down. I paid $50 on Amazon later that day for the same book new.