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Subject:Re: Advice on CGI-Perl scripting From:Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET> Date:Sun, 29 Sep 1996 08:46:00 EST
At 08:23 AM 9/29/96 +0000, you wrote:
>Hello,
>I hope this is not off topic, but I am learning CGI/Perl scripting.
>What I would like to know is:
>1. Do I need an interpreter to run a Perl script?
>2. If the answer to 1, is yes, can I get a Perl interpreter for
>Windows 3.11/95?
>3. If the answer to 2, is yes, where can I get the interpreter?
>I am not working at this email address at the moment, so If any one
>has an answer, could they email me at:
>gjlittle -at- ozemail -dot- com -dot- au
>Cheers!
I don't think it's far off topic, considering the tasks some of us are
called on to perform nowadays.
"CGI" is short for "Common Gateway Interface," and it's a standard
specification for communication between client and server. In other words,
you have an agreed-upon way to communicate between your big brother (the
server) and little brother (the client). That gateway interface can then be
hammered into any number of specific languages, scripts, methodologies, and
so forth, the same way that Federal specifications for automakers can result
in Geos and Jimmys.
One extremely popular implementation is called "Perl," short for "Practical
Extraction and Report Language." It's a language that, like JavaScript and
VBScript, is scripted. That means that it doesn't have to be compiled, it
only has to be written down so it can be run in real-time. If you ever wrote
a program in the old Basic that came with DOS, you'll recognize half of
scripting. Scripting is a hybrid of Basic (real-time running, interpreted)
and C (structure, form, and syntax).
Perl scripts usually have a .cgi extension, rather than .htm. Still, they're
just ASCII text in a specific format.
Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
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