Custom subroutine library for developing your own CGI programs
* Line-by-line explanations of 20 of the most popular CGI programs and subroutines that are essential to your Web site
* Compatible with Perl 4 and 5
* Tested under WindowsR(r), UNIXR(r), and MacOSR(r)
If you want to make your Web site as interactive as possible, as soon as possible, you've come to the right place! This book/CD powerhouse arms you with 20 of today's most-demanded CGI programs and subroutines, designed and written especially for this book, each ready to load and use. At the same time, it offers you a quick, painless, and unique hands-on way to learn basic and advanced CGI/Perl programming.
The CGI/Perl Cookbook begins with a concise overview of CGI programming for beginners, followed by a guide to installing CGI programs on UNIX, PC, and MacOS Web servers. The rest of the book is devoted to line-by-line, feature-by-feature explanations of seven cutting-edge CGI programs; including a search engine, password protection, advanced form processing, a shopping cart, customized bulk e-mail, advanced visitor feedback, and more; as well as 13 subroutines for e-mail support, file encoding, credit card validation, e-mail address checking, error handling, and text encryption. You also get a usage guide, installation instructions, and professional CGI and Perl programming tricks and customization tips for each program and subroutine.
The CD-ROM is a gold mine of ready-to-use software and valuable information. You get:
* All the CGI programs from the book-code and ready-to-run versions
* The complete Matt's Script Archive
* A collection of the best scripts from across the Web-source code included
* The complete Perl programming manual
* The most recent Windows, UNIX, and MacOS versions of Perl
Customer Reviews & Comments
I almost didn't buy this book after reading some of the negative reviews, but decided to take a look at it after noticing that none of the negative reviews went into much detail...making me wonder if the reviews were accurate or just the result of some kind of grudge against Mr. Patchett or Mr. Wright. I'm glad I took the time to look at, and subsequently buy, the book. With a few exceptions, I think most of the other reviews for this book do a good job of pointing out its imperfections. There are some inevitable bugs (corrected at the book's Web site), I wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't have any interest in learning at least a little bit about Perl, and it could use some additional detail on the installation process for the scripts in some places. That's the bad news. The good news, on the other hand, is that it is an invaluable resource for learning CGI scripting with Perl, especially for anyone who, like me, likes to learn by looking at actual code and having someone explain it. I've already used several of the scripts as is, modified one other, and borrowed code from several places to start building a custom script of my own. I think I got my $40 worth the first day I had it! Having spent some time with the book, I feel that somebody should address some of the issues brought up in some of the other "hit and run" reviews posted here. While it's true that the scripts are written in Perl 4 (which is backwards compatible with Perl 4), the authors have pointed out that this was a conscious choice on their part because Perl 4 is easier for the beginner to learn. I agree. As for the comments about security issues, I am familiar with the problems that were inherent with Mr. Wright's older scripts and these problems, as far as I can see, do not exist in the scripts presented in the book. Either Mr. Wright has learned from his previous mistakes or Mr. Patchett had a hand in removing security holes. Searching through the archives for the book's mailing list, I only came across one reported security problem in the last two years of posts to the list and a solution to that problem was promptly posted by the authors. One last thing that I really like about this book is the support for it that the authors provided by setting up a private mailing list for book owners. Not only do members of the list help each other out with any questions about the book's scripts (whether simple or complex), but there are also some great discussions on enhancing the scripts and adding additional features to them. How often have you bought a book and been stranded without any support? That the book's mailing list is going strong two years after the book's release is a testimony to its value. In short, I feel that this book makes a great addition to any Web developer's library, and is particularly useful to anyone developing CGI scripts of their own.
