- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (13 Nov 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 020135358X
- ISBN-13: 978-0201353587
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 17.8 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
375,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Books > Computers & Internet > Web Development > E-commerce > Web Administration > Web Scripting & Programming > CGI
- #9 in Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Programming > Introduction to Programming > Perl
- #48 in Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Programming > Languages > Perl
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Perl is by far the most popular programming language for creating scripts that add powerful interactive features to Web pages. Included on most UNIX platforms and available free of charge for Windows and Macintosh, Perl lets you place forms on your Web site that collect and process user input such as product orders and comments, enables visitors to conduct keyword searches, and lets you integrate a database into your site, among many other capabilities.
Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide gets you to the heart of Perl scripting with CGI. Even first-time programmers will be able to create interactive Web pages and, more importantly, use their newfound familiarity with Perl to understand and customize the multitude of scripts that already exist on the Web. Following on the huge success of Elizabeth Castro's top-selling HTML 4: Visual QuickStart Guide ---the book on HTML--her Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide is sure to become the choice for learning Perl and CGI.
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.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Best of a Bad Bunch,
By
This review is from: Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) (Paperback)
Just about any book that claims to teach both Perl and CGI programming to complete beginners does it very badly. I don't know why that it, but this genre seems to attract authors who don't know what they're talking about. Sure they explain things in very a very easy to understand manner - but the information they pass on is usually incomplete.The first edition of this book was very much in that camp. The Perl you learnt from it was terrible. The second edition is much better. It now includes a number of acknowledged Perl "best practices" that other books ignore, including "use strict", "-wT" and "CGI.pm". My problem is that whilst it uses these features, I don't think it really explains _why_ you should use them. It all sounds a bit too close to "cargo-cult" programming to me (where you program simply by copying existing code, you don't make any effort to understand what's going on). If you want a simple introduction to programming in Perl to write CGI programs then this book is head and shoulders above any of its competitors. However, if you want to understand more about Perl and CGI then you've be better off reading "Elements of Programming with Perl" following by "CGI Programming with Perl".
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple But Good Reference,
This review is from: Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) (Paperback)
This book was my first perl book. I had very little knowledge and found it covered the basics very well. I would advice you buy this book if you have a specific objective in mind, or already have a very basic knowledge of perl. It serves very well as a reference manual once you have grasped the basic concepts, and everything that is shown comes equipped with an easy to follow example.Certainly an excellent beginners book, but still useful for general reference one you know what you are doing!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Average Perl Book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) (Paperback)
I bought this book as other visual quickstart books like 'PHP for the world wide web' and 'JavaScript' I have much enjoyed. Though this book was an utter disappointment, the person has no clue about html and the book is supposed to be incoperating perl with the world wide web. It made me wonder does the author think that we already know html, I know I already do, but not everybody does so if you are a beginner then you are totally stuck, as she does not include the documentation for the webs pages where you gather the data from. I like how the code is seperate from the main text as it is easier to find like that, but that is about all. So to sum it up, I think if you already know Perl and just want a reference book than this is fine for you, but if you are a beginer to Perl then you should consider some other book.
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