Lincoln Stein
ISBN: 0471247448
Wiley Computer Publishing
Writing CGI scripts in Perl isn't terribly difficult, but with CGI.pm you can create a script quickly and easily without worrying about some of the common problems in creating a CGI script. Lincoln Stein wrote the original online manual and with this book expands the tutorials and information available about the module.
This book starts by explaining where to get and install CGI.pm. While it comes standard with Perl 5.004, some systems don't have that version and you'll need to install it yourself.
The basic idea behind CGI.pm is that you can create all your Web pages using Perl and CGI. The second chapter shows you the basics of CGI.pm. You'll learn how to create and display a Web page, build and read an HTML form, and move from one page to a second based upon form input. Sample scripts such as:
- guestbook
- displaying a random image
- reading a custom HTML tag
Once you've moved beyond the basics of programming with CGI.pm, this book really shines. The advanced tips in chapter three help you create programs with file upload, image maps, and http cookies.
But CGI.pm does more than just help create CGIs. You can also work with CGI.pm in object-oriented interface, work with FastCGI and mod_perl with the Apache server, and improve performance in general.
This book is not for beginning Perl scripters, but once you're comfortable with writing CGIs with Perl, you will find that CGI.pm will help you to write CGIs more quickly, and this book will be an invaluable reference. The final chapter includes reference materials and syntax information. I find it useful to mark specific pages to reference again and again.
