Customer Reviews

Instant CGI/Perl

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The title said "Instance CGI/Perl" so I bought it thinking I could do it instantly, being a complete beginner. No way.

This book is designed for people who already have an understanding or some knowledge of cgi already. I can't even make it to page two and I go cross-eyed. It is an excellent book when it comes to modifying scripts and getting into perl stuff and will probably come in handy AFTER I learn how to do it in the first place.

If you are an advanced-level user, then you will probably GREATLY benefit from this book. It has unbelievable advice and detailed instructions on web applications used in cgi.

But to be honest, I didn't understand a single word of it.

I stumbled upon this book while looking for a web application framework that would have all the basic components I would need (i.e. authentication, session management, form processing, templating, database ...) so that I could focus solely on coding the application logic without reinventing the wheel.

Surprisingly, this book documents a powerful and seemingly complete Perl-based web application framework called Extropia.
The architecture is built in OO and has every core component I need. I downloaded the code from their Web site and simply copied it into my cgi-bin directory and found that all of their ready-made examples ran without any tweaking to my web server config!
The examples include applications like Inventory Manager, Bug Tracker, Web Store, Address Book...
A novice user can get these applications up and running with little effort. The applications are fully configurable.
An advanced user who understands the concepts of OO Perl can create some really powerful applications. Wherever functionality is missing, just override or create your own custom method.

I followed many threads in the newsgroups regarding the subject of Perl-based web application frameworks, and never ran across the name "Extropia" before. I consider Extropia and this book to be a best kept secret!

Imagine building a fully functioning issue tracking database that performs some custom pre and post processing in just a couple days?!

Although I can see how the authors are targeting novice CGI developers because the framework is designed to be easily configurable for novice users... I think the real power of Extropia is more for the advanced web application developer who is tired of reinventing the wheel and is looking for an excellent set of reusable components.

Just my opinion.

If you are looking for a book on cgi, don't even waste 3 bucks on a used copy. The only place this thing deserves is taking up space at the author's home.

I used the instant ASP scripts a few years ago and taught myself asp to the point I have done several corporate intranets. I am familiar with Perl and the Instant CGI only confused me. If you want to learn cg, buy something else.