Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web:Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) - Softcover

Castro, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201735687 ISBN 13: 9780201735680

Publisher: Peachpit Press, 2001

Synopsis

Perl is one of the most popular scripting languages for adding powerful interactive features to Web pages. Perl lets you place forms on your site that collect and process user input such as comments and product orders; enables visitors to search for information; and can integrate a database into your site, among its many other capabilities. Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide fully revised and updated since its original 1998 release, gets users to the core of CGI scripting with Perl. Even first-time programmers will be able to create useful, workable scripts from scratch, or adapt and customize existing scripts to their own needs. Hundreds of screen shots and clear, easy-to-understand directions make this the perfect Perl book for beginners, as well as a handy reference for those with previous programming experience.

About this title

From the Author

The perfect book for the Perl/CGI beginner
When I started learning Perl I found it really frustrating that most books assumed that I was a programmer. They used terms I'd never heard of and didn't explain particular functions because they "worked the same as in C". Aargh! And most of them didn't care about using Perl on the Web. I did.

So, when I wrote this book, I made sure to start at the beginning. It'll give you everything you need to know to write your own Perl scripts that process the information that people send you through your forms. And it does it visually. You'll _see_ each script, the HTML page that it interacts with, and the result of using the Perl function in question. You'll actually understand what you're doing.

I don't want to waste your time. If you already know how to program, this is probably not the book for you. If you're looking for an exhaustive reference on Perl that gives you every detail on every last function, this is not it. And if you don't care about using Perl for Web pages, you should not buy my book.

On the other hand, if you've never programmed before, this book will give you a peek inside the "programmers-only" club so you can see what's going on in there. If you want to add a guestbook or a counter to your Web page but don't know exactly where to start, this is the book for you. If you want to know to know why a script does what it does and then learn to customize it for your own use, this book will help you do just that.

I also take a very few pages to show you how to create a form, even though most of you already know how to do that, because the way you use NAME and VALUE attributes is really important when you start writing Perl scripts. And there's a special appendix that covers basic Unix functions so you'll have everything you need to get started. The book's website includes a Question and Answer board, downloadable files that include all of the example scripts and accompanying HTML documents, and readers' comments. I'm also planning a section where folks can share and show off their scripts. I look forward to seeing you there.

About the Author

Elizabeth Castro is the author of four best-selling editions of HTML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. She also wrote the best-selling Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, and XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peachpit Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0201735687
• ISBN 13: 9780201735680
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 336