CGI Script Guides

Introduction

This book is intended for web designers, entrepreneurs, students, teachers, and anyone who is interested in learning CGI programming. You do not need any programming experience to get started; if you can write HTML, you can write CGI programs. If you have a website, and want to add guestbook forms, counters, shopping carts, or other interactive elements to your site, then this book is for you.

"CGI" stands for "Common Gateway Interface." CGI is one method by which a web server can obtain data from (or send data to) databases, documents, and other programs, and present that data to viewers via the web. More simply, a CGI is a program intended to be run on the web. A CGI program can be written in any programming language, but Perl is one of the most popular, and for this book, Perl is the language we'll be using.

If you're going to create web pages, then at some point you'll want to add a counter, a form to let visitors send you mail or place an order, or something similar. CGI enables you to do that and much more. From mail-forms and counter programs, to the most complex database programs that generate entire websites on-the-fly, CGI programs deliver a broad spectrum of content on the web today.

This book will get you up and running in as little as a day, teaching you the basics of CGI programs, the fundamentals of Perl, and the basics of processing forms and writing simple programs. Then we'll move on to advanced topics, such as reading and writing data files, searching for data in files, writing advanced, multi-part forms like order forms and shopping carts, using randomness to spice up your pages, using server-side includes, cookies, and other useful CGI tricks. Things that you've probably thought beyond your reach, things you thought you had to pay a programmer to do . . . all of these are things you can easily write yourself, and this book will show you how. To become microsoft certified professional you should get to pass you microsoft exams. While you are looking to become website designer you are recommended to get and pass your adobe exam to get website designing skills and knowledge.

You can also try it out before buying the book; the first six chapters are available online, free of charge, at http://www.cgi101.com/book/.

You should already have some experience building web pages and writing HTML. You'll also need Perl and a web server (such as Apache) that is configured to allow you to run your own CGI programs.

The book is written towards CGI programming on Unix, but you can also set up Apache and Perl on Mac OS X and Windows. I've written several online tutorials that will show you how to get started:

• Windows XP: how to set up Apache and Perl; how to configure Apache; where to write your programs; differences between CGI programs on XP and Unix
• Mac OS X: how to configure Apache (which you already have installed); where to write your programs
• Unix: How to upload programs to your Unix-based ISP; Unix tutorial; where to write your programs; Unix permissions.reputation management agency