Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

CGI Programming with Perl by Scott Geulich, Shishir Gundavaram, and Gunther Birznieks is a great beginning book for those interested in web programming with Perl. I have owned this book since its publication, and though it is about eight years later, I still reference back to this book. It is a joy to read.

The book covers these topics and more:

HTTP Protocal (Basic summary of how the web works)

URLs (Each part and what they do)

CGI (What it is, and how to use it)

Processing HTML Forms with CGI

CGI.pm for Perl (Including other options)

HTML Templates

Javasctipt

Security (Very Important)

Sending Email

Data Persistence (Making text files, Using SQL & Databases)

Maintaining State (Cookies, Hidden Fields, URL)

Web Searching

Creating Graphics with Perl & GD

XML Intro, Parsing XML

Debugging

Tips for Better CGI Applications

Efficiency and Optimization

Everything you need to get started for building web based applications is available in this book. It is a great introduction to other technologies as well as Perl & CGI. Basic things a begginer would want to learn how to do (Send Email, Process Forms, Maintain State, Data Persistance) is included here. However, this book is quite old. I suppose because of the proliferation of mod_perl, PHP, and others technologies, that this book has yet to be updated. I find it useful currently in its old state, but I am sure updates could be provided, obviously in places where other technologies are referenced and described as alternatives to CGI with Perl.

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

The most recent thing I came to this book looking for, good information on how to handle sessions, simply isn't there, CGI::Session and Apache::Session aren't discussed at all. On the other hand, important performance topics (like using fastcgi or mod_perl, normal Perl optimization, etc.) are still useful.

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

Your misssing some files that are necessary to understand the principles.

There were several missing already in previous chapters. In chapter 7 for instance, you do not provide - "music_data.txt" - so the online example of music_browser.cgi cannot be tried out.

Another one is in Chapter 6. I need "rgb.txt" to get the xcolors.cgi to work. You did not provide it.

I find this frustrating - particularly since I paid $35 for the book. And I'm not getting the full benefit of the book.

tadziu

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

The book covers all the important stuff, it is easy to read, and has insightful comments and good examples. The comments below should be seen in that contexts.

Unfortunately, it seems to be poorly edited. There are many typos, and the example scripts typically have one or several bugs in them. Even today, three years after release, the downloadable scripts need debugging!

This is actually quite frustrating, as you can't take those scripts for granted. If you want to learn by modifying you don't know if it is your modification or the original script that caused your problems.

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

This is good book that covers a wide area. Each chapter can be read faily quickly, but to really learn it is necessary to do the examples.

Unfortunately, there has been a poor job of editting. There are many typo and grammatical errors, in addition to code problems. I have found that at least 90 percent of the examples do not work without a skilled debugging session. I was able to get all code to work, except for examples 11-2, 11-3 on Maintaining State, and examples 14-4, 14-5 on "Whats Related". Example 14-4, 14-5 will probably never work again because the web server it uses is now commercialized.

In particular, chapter 11 was very poorly written and needs to be completely re-worked. Too bad, it is a very important topic.

Overall, this is still a very good book. It serves as a great intro into CGI web programming.

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

A must have for any web developer from novice (assuming knowledge of Perl) to advanced.

I found this book to be an all-encompasing overview of the world of CGI and it is really a quick read. While it is an overview, don't be fooled into thinking that it has nothing to offer you because it's knowledge is vast. Check out the sample chapter on security to see what I mean. Furthermore, it servers the additional purpose of a great reference. If you're doing anything on the web, buy this book.

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

Great source for a semi experienced programmer. The level of detail is perfect for my understanding. The source for the examples is unaviable in Windows environment though. I would have liked to see more comparison on other technology and less of cgi.pm

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

This is a truely rewarding book. It is an excellent choice for an experienced programmer who is starting to learn CGI or had been doing a little bit of it, and now needs more ! Surely, you will find your self looking for more details elsewhere; but that is unavoidable for a comprehensive book, even a good one like this one.

I share the sentiments of an earlier reviewer towards waiting for the UPS truck!

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

Truly a different animal!

Shows you how to put it all together.

A must for any aspiring web developper.

Comments about oreilly CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition:

A great book that teaches you why not how. This book doesn't teach you Perl, it assumes you know

Perl - instead it teaches you all the tricks with using Perl on the web. Useful both as an introductory guide and as a quick-reference manual.