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
This is obviously a book that a lot of time and care went into, on the part of both authors. The CGI/Perl Cookbook has all of the best "goodies" from the excellent Matt's Script Archive website on its CD-ROM, and a chapter on each of the scripts carefully walks you through every line, explaining (in refreshingly non-technogeek language!) the programming theory behind each element and how the total script works. I found this very useful when I began writing my own Perl scripts. Matt's easy-to-modify CGI scripts are also great for people who don't care *why* it works, they just want it to work. With the excellent documentation Craig and Matt supply, these are as close to foolproof as CGI scripting ("Aaagh! 500 Server Error!!") gets, and all 20 scripts covered in the book are the basic, useful kind that anyone handling websites will want to use sooner or later (guestbook, form mail, feedback, and a really well-designed web store.) Excellent value; this is the kind of book you'll keep and use for years, whether it's your stepping-stone to writing your own scripts or whether you never want to get more in-depth than just typing in the path to your Perl executable.
