Product Description
A complete guide to designing, creating, and publishing on the World Wide Web explains how to select the right software, design WWW documents, use multimedia, create interactive documents, and utilize Java, VRML, SGML, Adobe, HTML, and other software. Original. (Advanced).Amazon.com Review
Pretty much everything you need to know to do most everythingyou might want to do with Web-based publishing--all in a single book.In addition to the applications listed in the title, it coversmultimedia software (Shockwave and Macromedia Director), creatingsearch engines and indexing tools, management of Web site production,and more. The perfect book for folks who want to create Web sites withevery conceivable bell and whistle! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Still relevant!
I just purchased this book, I am also a web designer, although it is already outdated the theories presented by the author makes this book relevant to newer versions of HTML etc.This book is still a must fordesigners and a would be CLASSIC!

Not for beginners
I bought this book after taking on the task of learning *gasp* all of the facets of web programming and design, hoping this would be currentinformation. A lot of it is. If you're still developing and writing HTML inthe 3.0 version. I was surprisingly let down by this part of the Unleashedseries, which is usually known for high quality info. Not that it isn't agood book, it's just out of date. ** Wondering how to get money back now**.. My advice.. keep looking. This one is just not current enough to beuseful for so much of what's new now. Sorry Mr. Stanek, et al.

Great, but that was 2 years ago.
This book was great when I first started reading it....2 years ago.The author was well organized and very informative in his descriptions.If youwant basic knowledge, and then to expand on present material, this is thebook for you.

Information is Too Old
Although this book has great content, the information is too outdated.According to this book Java and frames, are not supported by IE. This bookis still teaching HTML 2 and HTML 3 (not 3.2). Don't expect to learn thatmuch about Java and CGI from this book either because it explains what theyare more that it teaches how to create applets and scripts using them.

Lots of Information in one excellent book
Stanek did something 'heroic'. He wrote an overview in which every topic is written down in a clear and understandable way. The book is not just a summary, but it shows how several 'languages' could be used in web publishing, how to choose for a language, it's pros and cons, and how they can cooperate. It was about time that such a book was written, because many people could be overloaded with information without knowing what to do with it. By buying and reading this book you won't get 'overloaded'. Stanek takes you to a point from where he shows you what the possibilities are, what the differences are and how to make decisions in good design. For newbies and experienced people who are working in the field of webdesign, marketing and programming business a must! (Mr. Stanek, I owe you one..) ... Read more

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, enable visitors to conduct keyword searches for information on your site, and 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, you'll be able to use your new-found familiarity with Perl to understand and customize the multitude of scripts that already exist on the Web. Following on the huge success of Liz Castro's top-selling HTML:Visual QuickStart Guide-the book to have to learn or reference HTML-Castro's Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide is soon to becomethe choice for learning Perl and CGI. Author of the acclaimed, best-selling HTML:Visual QuickStart Guide, with over 100,000copies sold. Teaches you all you need to know to start creating CGI scripts in Perl. Shows how to make your Web pages stand out with interactive features such as guest books and forms. Assumes no prior programming experience.Amazon.com Review
One of the best things about Perl and CGI for the WorldWide Web is the seamless way the author incorporates terminologyinto her explanations. Elizabeth Castro, author of HTML 4 for the World WideWeb, understands the intermediate user: someone who would bebored by a beginner's guide, but isn't ready to step up toheavy-hitting programming texts either.

In Perl and CGI, sheexplains basic concepts--such as the difference between a compiled andan interpreted script--within the text, so there's no need to keepflipping back to the glossary. Readers should be familiar with HTMLand comfortable with technical explanations, diagrams, and generalvocabulary.

Anyone trying to get a grasp on something as complexand powerful as Perl will appreciate Castro's relativelystraightforward technique. For example, in the first chapter, Castroexplains some basic Perl concepts sensibly: that the $ standsfor the s in scalar; the @ sign stands for thea in array; and that the % that labels a hash orassociative array indicates two circles on each side of the slash asparts of a pair. This granular, logical way of building Perl knowledgewill get new Perl users started. More experienced users will want touse this book as a workbook and refresher. --JenniferBuckendorff ... Read more

Customer Reviews (95)

great intro. to perl
this was my very first Perl book and it taught me a lot of basic stuff that i still use now eventhough i don't use Perl anymore :) I'd still recommend it and I love the Visual Quickstart Guides!

Birds Friend or foe
In the movie "The birds" I found that it was interesting to the point to where you did not know what the birds would do next, or who was going to be there next victim.The actors who played the characters (Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner, Tippi Hendren as Melanie Daniels and Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner and many more) did a fine job of acting for their time, however if the movie were based in today's time they would probably not have been as well recognized for this particular movie.
The setting is in Bodega Bay and San Francisco which are located in California.There they were brutally attacked by several different types of birds all trying to do one thing get some sort of revenge.During these attacks many people were killed because of the crazy stages these birds were going through.It leaves you hanging the whole time to try to figure out why the birds want to commit such hideous crimes.What could possibly cause them to do such horrible things?
I thought the movie was well thought out but after reading the short story "The Birds" it makes you wander what similarities there were between the two, I can answer that question none.If the movie had been more like the book it would not have been as exciting.I thought that the book was good but was a little boring compared to the movie.
If you get the chance I suggest you read and watch the "The Birds." For they both have interesting point of views.
MCHS-SLC

Birds Friend or foe
In the movie "The birds" I found that it was interesting to the point to where you did not know what the birds would do next, or who was going to be there next victim.The actors who played the characters (Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner, Tippi Hendren as Melanie Daniels and Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner and many more) did a fine job of acting for their time, however if the movie were based in today's time they would probably not have been as well recognized for this particular movie.
The setting is in Bodega Bay and San Francisco which are located in California.There they were brutally attacked by several different types of birds all trying to do one thing get some sort of revenge.During these attacks many people were killed because of the crazy stages these birds were going through.It leaves you hanging the whole time to try to figure out why the birds want to commit such hideous crimes.What could possibly cause them to do such horrible things?
I thought the movie was well thought out but after reading the short story "The Birds" it makes you wander what similarities there were between the two, I can answer that question none.If the movie had been more like the book it would not have been as exciting.I thought that the book was good but was a little boring compared to the movie.
If you get the chance I suggest you read and watch the "The Birds." For they both have interesting point of views.
MCHS-SLC

Excellent starter; useful reference into intermediate level
This is a great book for the intermediate to well-seasoned HTML coder who is looking to explore server-side scripting.Experience with regular programming helps to pick up the language even more quickly, although it is certainly not necessary.Having been introduced to the many uses of Perl/CGI after installing and using several scripts like those on the CGI Resource Index (http://www.cgi-resources.com), I was well aware of the practicality of what I was learning (after reading to chapter 3, I began writing Perl with a purpose, using the book only as a reference).I'm now very comfortable with the language, and have moved on to more advanced projects (and, consequently, more advanced resources).I HIGHLY recommend this book, as well as others in the Visual Quickstart series (especially those written by Elizabeth Castro).

Don't buy this book.
The book purports to be a visual quickstart guide.However, you will need a microscope to view the examples; which after close examination, you will find to be the same examples you can get for free on-line.The extensive use of deprecated code is more than just annoying, especially the code that was deprecated prior to publishing.The publishers should have caught that.Get the O'Reilly book instead: the one with the mouse on the cover. ... Read more

Product Description
Perl is one of the most popular scripting languages for adding powerful interactive features to Web pages. Perl lets you place forms on your site that collect and process user input such as comments and product orders; enables visitors to search for information; and can integrate a database into your site, among its many other capabilities. Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide fully revised and updated since its original 1998 release, gets users to the core of CGI scripting with Perl. Even first-time programmers will be able to create useful, workable scripts from scratch, or adapt and customize existing scripts to their own needs. Hundreds of screen shots and clear, easy-to-understand directions make this the perfect Perl book for beginners, as well as a handy reference for those with previous programming experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Long on examples, short on detail
This is a jumpstart tutorial book, so anyone looking for a comprehensive guide to either Perl or CGI will be disappointed.(But the title of the book series makes this pretty obvious.)I'm an experienced programmer, and I've had some experience with Python, a language very similar to Perl in some ways, but nevertheless I found this book helpful, even if it is somewhat simplistic.It provides a good, if shallow, introduction to the possibilities of the Perl language and CGI.This book is enough to get your feet wet;it is not enough to make you a competent web application developer.But once you finish this book, you can move on to something more substantial.What I like about this book is the way the author continues to repeat certain basic concepts, so that a beginner won't get tangled up and lost.(Things like the "here" document and "default" variable, for example, can throw the beginner for a loop.)So overall, I think this book is a pretty good starting point for Perl and CGI.

Absolute beginner programmers may still find this book too complex.There is a certain assumption of familiarity with basic programming concepts.But if you have even a small amount of experience with even a simple language like BASIC, you should be fine.

I love this book
I ALWAYS buy the Peachpit Press books for everything I need to learn.I bought one for Photoshop, HTML,Studio 10, Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, VB, etc.They are straight forward and to-the-point and great books.

I checked it out from a library and liked it so much I bought it!
I'm a PERL beginner.I checked out several books from the library and this one, PERL and CGI, was the best fit.It gives a very good overview of what PERL is and its syntax.After just a couple of hours of reading I think I could start writing my own simple scripts.Easy to read and understand.I liked it so much I bought a copy from Amazon to keep as a reference!Not as an exhaustive reference --it's not that --but as a reference for all the common techniques and principles.Although there are a lot of illustrations, they're not really critical to the book.My only criticism is that the print in the pictures is so small it's hard to read.

Great Introduction to Perl
This was one of the first books I read to learn Perl and it provides an excellent introduction to Perl. At the beginning I think it could use a little bit more hand holding as some other books do, but if you are familiar with any syntax in a programming language you should be just fine. Even if you are one of those that did need to get another book to get you through the hand holding of learning to program for the first time with Perl, you will quickly find yourself wondering how to do things with Perl and this book will probably answer your questions so I think this book is indispensable for anyone that wants to learn Perl.

Really hard to follow
First off, she didn't even get started with user exercises until Chapter 7. (I can already use a web server, thank you-- she doesn't need six chapters to explain the subject) And it would be nice if she included the HTML form examples along with the corresponding perl/CGI scripts that processed the data generated. As it stands, she has a chapter which tells you how to create a form, and then two chapters later, when she gets to the perl/CGI examples, they don't correspond to anything that's been covered in earlier chapters pertaining to form data. I had a much easier time following a quickie online tutorial.

I cannot advise strenuously enough against purchasing this book. ... Read more

Product Description
A complete guide to creating interactive Web pages using the Perl CGI.pm library from its creator.

Official Guide to Programming with CGI.pm contains all the information about CGI.pm found in Perl's online manual, but in a completely reorganized and greatly expanded format. It also includes valuable labor-saving tips and hints you won't find anywhere else. Featuring step-by-step instructions and complete source code, it shows you how to:
* Download, install, and configure CGI.pm
* Generate HTML documents on the fly
* Process fill-out forms and create multipage documents
* Perform script debugging and state maintenance
* Design interactive clickable image maps
* Store and process cookies
* Attach JavaScript and cascading style sheets to your documents
* Write state-maintaining scripts
* Modify and extend CGI.pm
* Tap the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN).
On the Web site you'll find:
* The most recent and all future revisions to the CGI.pm module
* All the source code examples from the book
* Online documentation for CGI.pm
* Links to CPAN and other Web-related software written by the author.Amazon.com Review
CGI.pm, a Perl library for writing CGI scripts, delivers elegant solutions for using and updating Web forms. The author, Lincoln Stein, realized the need for a clean and simple way to manage forms and--as a columnist for the Perl Journal, a scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and a Web-based software author--created that solution. He's (refreshingly) humble about this creative process, explaining that it took him a few steps until he realized the key to this HTML/Perl hybrid: simplicity.

The CGI.pm standard allows the site manager to separate data from its HTML markup for use in CGI forms. For example, all the elements in a short drop-down menu of vegetables can be placed in one array, changing this:

The use of CGI.pm requires a mind shift for Web site managers, but it's one worth making. Instead of tags for 'input' and 'select', CGI.pm uses statements such as "checkbox ()" and "textfield ()," allowing documents to be read easily and updated quickly.--Jennifer Buckendorff ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Dated look at the CGI.pm module
If you want to pick up and start using CGI.pm this book will certainly help you out. It does a decent job explaining what the module is and what it can do. The problem is, the CGI.pm module is not that hard to understand. The book is also kind of thin in that there are only really 2-3 architectural examples of using server side CGI for page state and transition management.

So whats there in the book is ok, but hardly worth the full price. This should be a more budget priced book simply because it just covers the very basics of CGI coding. Any skilled programmer who understands the basics of CGI won't get that much out of this book.

That being said, it beats reading through the CGI.pm online documentation. It just should not cost as much as it does.

Another problem is that the perl and html in the examples is out of date and I was not a fan of the style of coding in general. A few too many times, convoluted (but efficient) coding was used. While this is fine for your own code, when you are writing code for training and demonstration the code should be a bit more clear.

So, the book does work as a quick overview of the CGI.pm module and its written by the modules author so there is that :)

It should have been a lot more detailed with better examples, to justify its price, or a but shorter at a bargain price. The bottom line is, there is not much you are going to get out of this book that you would not gleen from reading the online CGI.pl doc and a few decent examples.

Straight From The Creator of CGI.pm
This is one of my favorite computer books of all time. I enjoyed it as a way to learn to use the CGI perl module, several years ago, and I use it from time to time now as a reference. The author presented his material with a fair amount of humor, especially in the examples, and with great clarity. Of all the perl modules out there, I probably use CGI.pm more than any other, with DBI.pm coming in a close second. So, if you're planning on using perl to generate web pages, this book will be very useful. While learning to use the CGI.pm I also read two other books and this book by Lincoln Stein was the most useful and informative of the ones I read.

Disappointing
I gave up on this book after 185 pages. Admittedly, I learned a lot about using Lincoln Stein's CGI module using this book, but it was not always easy. On the upside most of his explanations are clear. However the examples are replete with errors and the typography used for the code listings make it easy to introduce new errors.

Wow, incredible high-level power in this module.
The author has done a wonderful job of explaining how to use the CGIpm module. If you understand the basics of perl, you should be able to go through the bulk of this book. And with just a slight acquaintance with Perl references and anonmous list, you'll be surprised how quick and easy this is to master. This book puts other CGI books to shame because other books shy away from discussing all the cool functions in CGI.pm.

Great Book!
This book helped me make the transition to object oriented perl. Oh yeah, and it's filled with all the CGI you'll need. Thank you Lincoln Stein!! ... Read more

Product Description
B> The Web Wizard's Guide to Perl and CGI teaches readers how to create Web sites that will have an audience coming back for more. From writing scripts to analyzing users' data, this book helps readers create well-designed, user-friendly Web sites.This book covers the following topics: elementary scripts, programming and Perl basics, the Perl/Web interface, advanced Perl statements, how to store data in arrays, how to use Perl to work with Patterns, and how to use multiple page forms that share data.It assumes no programming experience, and also acts as a handy reference.The Web Wizard Series from Addison-Wesley is a series of brief, introductory books written by instructors on Internet and Web programming topics of interest to anyone who wants to create web pages. Each book includes an easy-to-read, full-color design featuring plenty of hands-on examples and exercises, and is written in a concise and practical manner so readers can use the technologies in no time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Introduction to PERL Programming
This book is thorough in its knowledge, easy to read, with good references, and very well outlined and organized.It takes the reader and aspiring PERL / CGI Programmer from scratch to the point where he or she will be fully capable of writing their own fully functional and interactive PERl-CGI based web site in a UNIX/LINUX/Windows platform in a matter of a couple of weeks.I covers all of the necessary topics such as parameters, functions, variables, lists and arrays, sub routines, forms, writing and reading to files, and much more.It also provides a solid foundation to jump into the more advanced topics in PERL and CGI programming.I am very pleased with this introduction to PERL and highly recomend this book to anyone who already knows html and other programming languages and would like to add PERL to their tools list.This is an academic treatment of PERL although not a scientific one.

But its out of print
Amazon may have copies, but the publisher tells our bookstore its now out of print. I liked the book, and decided to adopt it for our Perl/CGI course because the book we had been using went out of print (CGI/Perl by Diane Zak). The campus bookstore informed me that the book was out of print. oh well.

Great Introduction To Using Perl And CGI
I really liked this Introductory Perl book. It covers a lot of
ground without assuming that the reader is a genius. This full
color book has many features I liked such as call outs (kind of
like arrow diagrams) on code sections, short code pieces
with a line-by-line descriptions and things like tip and warning boxes. It covers things from starting your first CGI script to trickier things like regular expressions and using files on the web Server. An excellent starting book for people wanting to
learn Perl or Perl scripting.

Just right for a beginner...
If you have absolutely no experience with perl and cgi, you'll probably appreciate this book. Assumes no prior knowledge and presents information in manageable, non-intimidating fashion. ... Read more

Product Description
CGI, or Common Gateway Interface, is a specification for transferring information between a World Wide Web server and a CGI program.CGI is the most common way for Web servers to interact with users.For example, many HTML pages that contain forms use a CGI program to process the forms data once it is submitted.CGI Fast & Easy Web Development explains not only what CGI is, but also why you should use it, who uses it, how it works, what you can do with it, and how to use it in Web programming.This visual guide is for the intermediate Web designer or developer who is a beginning CGI or script user.It is a great tool for anyone who is interested in putting up more than a simple Home page on the Internet.It also includes a CD, which includes Windows and UNIX/Linux Internet utilities, Perl interpreters, sample code from the book, and shareware CGI scripts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pretty disappointed
I have never seen in my life a programming book that chooses to use SCREEN shots for TEXT windows. If you can read the tiny code samples (the reason one would buy a book like this!) then maybe you'd find it of value. I never unwrapped the CD because I felt the book was tedious to read and gave weak examples. I give it two over one stars because if it were the only book on the subject it might be worth reading, but fortunately it is not.Conversely the PHP fast and easy book was excellent so that is why I bought this one. Shame on PrimaTech to not use the same standards.

Some parts good others frustrating
The book does explain the interaction of Forms, cookies etc through the CGI to manipulation in Perl. This is does well - where would you start to describe programming so you could describe the whole in a sequential manner without any hiccough?

Before reading I had some mixed ideas about CGI/Perl and the other languages. I have programmed for many years so learning Perl is not too up hill - regular expressions are the big learning for me.

I would rate the book higher if it only had the text. The big let down is the CD-ROM. There are the usual couple of time-limited demos plus the all important examples from the chapters. Here is the let down - you spend an age matching example in book to 'what they've called it' on the CD. Worse still you expect to have the Perl script available to pop up on your own server. Think again! So you are forced to run the HTML as is (pointing to Johnnie's web) only to find the web doesn't exist. Now that's bad! To be fair there are some Perl scripts on the CD, but nowhere near 100%. One of the best ways of learning is to examine other people's code.

Overall - gentle explanation of CGI and Perl, at reasonable cost, with some support from CD. 3/5. Improve the CD contents and that would be 4 or 5/5

Not -that- bad at all!
I felt the last review was a bit unfair. While I agree that the book could have benefitted from additional examples, I thought the level of explanation was adequate.

On the down side: As an intermediate tutorial, I thought that there ought to have been more depth as to what one can do with CGI. Cookies and Forms are interesting, but I'd like to know how to make some of the more complex applications. The book lacked these, and thus I would not recommend it for advanced programmers unless they want a handy reference manual for the quick stuff.

On the up side: I thought the writers did an excellent job explaining the 'why' and 'how' of CGI. With the knowledge of the internal workings they gave me, I feel confident that I can accomplish what I want to accomplish with CGI. That's something I found lacking in quite a few of the other manuals I flipped through.

Who I recommend it for: Anyone who'd like to understand -why- CGI works, and would like to get thier feet wet with some simple CGI scripting. ... Read more

Product Description
A high level introduction to Web CGI program, this Developer's Resource takes a detailed look at the process of customer requirements gathering, analysis, and design. This is the first CGI book to present a thorough methodology from requirements analysis, to design, and on through testing and implementation for developing enterprise-wide CGI apps. The CD-ROM contains a repository of valuable source code, Tcl, Perl, and a library of useful programming tools.Amazon.com Review
CGI programming lets you build a variety of dynamicapplications for Web sites.If you are already familiar with basicprogramming concepts and especially if you are comfortable with Unix,CGI Developer's Resource can get you up to speed with CGIquickly (even if you're not familiar with the specifics of developingfor the Internet). With examples primarily in Perl and Tcl, J. M. Ivlershows how to pull off common Web tricks like sending form contents ase-mail, implementing counters, working with data files, and employingserver-side includes. While none of this material is groundbreaking,it provides a solid set of information that Web server programmerswill want to keep at hand. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

High level introduction followed by scripts and info.
This is an introductory book on CGI, with examples written in both TCL and Perl.It is a great idea for a book; unfortunately, this is a poor implementation of that idea.

Source code listings, tips, and notes are presented in way to make them almost unreadable (black text on a dark gray background).Notes and tips are written in a font designed to mimic handwriting, but makes it even more unreadable.I'm not talking distracting or unique, but unreadable.On page 73, the gray background gets darker the further the text progresses down the page, until you have black on black.A portion of that page is totally unreadable.This continues throughout the book.I am stunned that Prentice Hall didn't catch this.The design of this book is horrible.

Mr. Ivler aims the book for people comfortable with TCL or Perl (and UNIX), yet spends three chapters introducing the HTML protocol, firewalls, and other topics.The author's focus seems confused throughout the book and the author(s) loose sight of who the audience is frequently.

More or less, the second half of the book ends up documenting their scripts.

I also found the copyright notice offensive (page 575)... that informs the readers that Ivler and Husain owned the code (fair enough), but also owned any modifications you make to the code (yeah, right).

On the plus side, it does have code you can cut and paste into your own projects and demonstrates what you can do with CGI on a limited scale, albeit without a lot of depth.

Not useful
I too am sorry I spent the money on this one.I also noticed the bad production techniques on the graphics and found some sections to be very thin on the info. I was looking for (the guts of doing cgi-sendmail, notjust the use of a cookbook module ...)I guess I'll just wait for theBlack Book version coming out -- I've found these to be real good.

don't buy
As others pointed out, the sidebars are unreadable because the background is a graduated greyscale that turns as black as midnight toward the bottom.

The information is poorly organized, incomplete and oftenincorrect.

They borrow buggy code from other sources then admonish thereaders on page 575 not to copy the code for their own use.

Poorly written, poorly edited, poorly designed.
This was required reading for a web applications class. I am sorry I wasted money on it. The writing alternated between tedious and redundant. The editing was so bad I found typos in every page. The graphics looked like something out of an elementary school art project. More important,they interfered with the text and made it difficult to read. Every page wasan eyesore. What little valuable information I could glean from the textwasn't worth the wading. The publisher should be ashamed. Midway throughthe course, I threw the book in a corner in disgust. Save your money.

Great information, lousy design.
I found much useful information in this bookthough it wasn't easy, wading through all thetypos and sidebars which blended the backgroudcolor to the text color. Nearly unreadable.Mr. Ivler's book was not done justice by thispublisher. ... Read more

Product Description
"Weil and Baron actually deliver on the book'ssubtitle. This book solved over a dozen problems I had been havingwith our Web site that no other source could adequately resolve." --Greg Ewing, Webmaster and Manager, Electronic Publishing, WesternDigital Corporation.

"This book definitely succeeds in reaching a general audience withmoderate computer skills. The style of writing and the presentationmake the examples easy to deploy." -- Jim Buyens, author ofBuilding Net Sites with Windows NT and Running Microsoft FrontPage97

Everything you need to add advanced Perl CGI and JavaScript functionsto your Web site-no programming or UNIX experience required! You'llfind the scripts and all the tools you need on the included CD-ROM.

Step-by-step instructions to configure and install a wide range ofuseful, industrial-strength, full-featured JavaScript and Perl scriptsincluding: a complete on-line store-with on-line, secure credit cardtransactions; a Web site search engine; a universal HTML formprocessing script; a floating Web site directory panel; a programmableimage display script; a scrolling browser message; and a visitorcounter.

The authors walk you through the steps of the script installationprocess, explaining how and why they work. Reading this book, you willlearn not only how to customize and use the scripts, but also how towork with other scripts you find on the Internet. In addition, whatyou discover about the Internet, HTTP, CGI, and both client-side andserver-side scripts will help you enhance your pages more easily.

All the necessary "tricks of the trade" are also presented, such asquestions to ask your Internet Service Provider-even the businessreasons for and uses of each script. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

A Real Mess
This was the third book I bought to help me get started with CGI stuff.It was not very helpful, when I started learning. I was using it in an online class.Since that early learning experience, I forced myself tofigure out cgi instalation.I now have many scripts on my site. RecentlyI wanted a hidden counter, and I remembered there was one in this book.Iwent back to the book and tried to install it.And what a mess.There isno coordination between the CD and the book.The book has no set outline,forconfiguration. And there are errors that will make you think your anidiot.Do your self a favor and just start downloading scripts from theweb and learning the difference between a path on your server and a pathwith a URL in the browser. Maybe another book will help, but stay awayfrom this one, oh and I'll but this one up for auction, here at amazon, andgood luck!

a waste of paper
I already reviewed this book and spent time on my review.You only have the author and publisher's reviews and maybe one from their mothers!Why do you not include negative reviews??You lose a great deal of credibilityby only including the author's bubbling over his work.These boys wrotethis worthless drivel in a rushed afternoon and it shows!Have the guts toprint less that gushing reviews!!

An excellent book that delivers what it promises.
Drag and Drop CGI?Sounds too good to be true?Well, it IS true! An excellent book that delivers what its subtitle promises.If you're looking to enhance your website with form validation, form processing, searchengines, visitor counters and even an online store (amongst other goodies)then this is the book for you.

The book assumes moderate computerskills on the part of the reader but is in no way overly technical.Inaddition, the authors provide step by step support through each script, howeach script works and how you might implement each script in the'real-world'.

What makes Drag and Drop CGI particularly commendable isthat it delivers on its promise: nine fully-operational, fully-tested,robust, commercial-quality scripts (including the aforementioned on-linestore) that solve real-world problems and not just 'demos', 'teasers' or'examples' masquerading as fully functional code.For this reason alone,it's worth making room on your bookshelf for this book.

Other features ofthe book worthy of note include:numerous, accessible introductions totechnical concepts; a chapter to help you clarify your site's design,purpose and target audience; andintroductory guides to Perl and UNIX forthose readers who wish to advance to the 'next level'.

All this, writtenin a clear, humorous and supportive style.Not bad...Not bad at all.

Just What I Needed!
Not for a newbie to the web. This book took me from static html web pages to dynamic cgi web pages with secure on line shopping.Well worth the money I spent, plus all the scripts on the CD are a big bonus.Plain, wellwritten english, with just enough tech stuff to get me by and help me askright questions when I needed tech support from my server. Thanks toAmazon for the great next day service!

Don't waste your money!!
I am a technical writer and webmaster and it's my job to help people in our department with web pages and cgi scripts.Many of them have asked for a recommendation on what book would be helpful.I reviewed this book forthat purpose and was amazed at how poorly written it is!!They areobviously NOT writers and honestly must have thrown this together over aweekend. Unless you already know what they're talking about,this will makematters worse. And if you already know what they're talking about, youdon't need it.So far, my favorite intro book is "Perl and CGI forthe World Wide Web" by Elizabeth Castro. Several on our staff are nowusing it and finding it very helpful, straightforward, not too muchdetail...etc. ... Read more

Product Description
Develop Web Apps Fast! Master CGI with the complete library, including virtual cookies and apps using cookie parsing;

Create a full-featured Web shopping cart, including SSL implementation, e-mail to clients, and credit card charges on the server; Develop a search engine with forward and backward capability; Build a security system that logs users onto your Web page; Make Visual Basic work with Active Server Pages and OLEISAPI; Take advantage of advanced techniques, such as JavaScript and ActiveX documents;

Discover the complete CGI library for VB 5 on the CD-ROM, plus source code for the cookie-based shopping cart, generic search engine, secure user entry function, and interactive video files. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Are you kidding me?
Visual Basic is absolutely the wrong language to write CGI applications.The overhead required will drag your server down to a crawl.

That said, the book itself is fairly well written with lots of useful information.If you are a CGI programmer in general (C, Delphi or PowerBASIC) then there is some really useful information here.Particularly if you are a PowerBASIC programmer, since PowerBASIC can compile stand-alone executables to just a few 'k-bytes'.

confused even more
"Deliver CGI applications easily" says the cover of this book.After spending a whole weekend with the book, I could not get past chapter 2.Every example I tried generated confusing error messages.I'm actuallyusing VB 6 instead of 5, and nothing in this 500+ page book suggestswhether or not this is allowed.A quick look at the index tells you it istoo short for a 500 page book.One of the most popular CGI applications isa counter, however, the word counter does not even appear in the index. Only 2 entries are under the letter "B" in the index. That's whatI'd expect from a 20 page book. This book is written in a language thatonly someone who already knows the subject matter could possiblyunderstand.

Waste !!!
Well, in polite terms, somewhat useful but more useless than useful in any way.To be laconic " regretful buy "

A must for any BASIC programmer interested in CGI
First, I should note that using Visual Basic for a web server application is pathetic.Each instance of the application requires a minimum of 4 megs of RAM, so using it on a high-traffic site is suicidal.

That said, thebook and the code in the book are very good.Ported to C, Delphi orespecially PowerBASIC, you can't go wrong.The book also does a fairlygood job of covering the CGI spec.

My suggestion, buy the book and go getyourself a copy of PowerBASIC so that you can createtrue CGI apps that take only a few K instead of megabytes.

Not worth the money.
The problem with this title is its proprietary language.Depending on the server you program for, why would you want to use the Authors version of the interface software.It's well written but lacks being practical. ... Read more

Product Description
Experienced HTML authors, Webmaster, and Intranet programmers will find this book one of the fastest ways to learn CGI programming. Topics include catalog, search engine, order forms, database referencing, and user feedback scripts. Real world examples emphasize creating forms and user-driven, interactive Web sites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Excellent - Highly Recommended
I found this book to be a great introduction to both Perl and CGI programming. This book is genuinely trying to teach you, unlike some bookswhere the author is attempting to show you how clever he/she is. Alsoincludes useful examples, and the syntax reference library in the appendixis essential once you are experienced with Perl & CGI. I am verypleased I purchased this book and highly recommend it to anyone who wantsto be up and running with Perl CGI programming in the shortest possibleperiod.

No fat, full of info.
This book is very good as it not only teaches you how to write good CGI code for web pages but it also teaches you how to integrate your exisiting PERL scripts into it. I have had to contact Customer Support in regards toan error in the book and they advised me that the book was "designedfor Windows 95". So they could not answer the question.

Excellent tutorial for CGI/Perl
The book is excellent, but I noticed that one of the examples didn't work on my system(Win 98, Sambar Server, Perl 5).In chapter 2 and 3 it mentions and examines code that uses subroutines, but on my system itreturned a false value from the subroutine and an error.To correct thisput1; directly below the entire subroutine 'sub name {subroutine code}1;'Thanks to Amazon's Perl forDummies for pointing out that workaround. I would recommend both books as complements of each other.Perl forDummies describes in more detail with less example, and Perl CGIProgramming has detailed examples with little explaination.

Just 2 words to say... Excellent Book!!
If you want to learn perl, this book it's the best.. But if you want to train yourself programming CGI, this book it's the best too. Excellent documentation, with a lot of examples and screen shots. This book followsyou to be an excellent programmer, also it contains instructions to how toinstall a web server on your machine. Great book. I recommend you thisbook.

nothing on using dates and times in scripts
I found this book very uselful, but it doesn't cover using dates or times.I found that very disapointing.It also doesn't have anything about sending Form mail. ... Read more

Product Description
Every Web developer needs to understand three core technologies: HTML 4, Java 2/J2EE, and JavaScript. Now, you can learn them all in one book: Core Web Programming, Second Edition, the ultimate Web development resource for experienced programmers! Writing for experienced programmers, Marty Hall begins with detailed, practical coverage of HTML 4 -- from the fundamentals to Cascading Style Sheets, Dynamic HTML, and beyond. Next, Hall shows programmers how to use Java as the base language for Web programming, and integrate other key technologies as needed. Along the way, Hall presents Web-focused coverage of Swing, Java threads, I/O, network programming on both clients and servers, HTTP, servlets, JavaServer Pages, and the latest version of JavaScript -- everything you need to know to build the most effective Web applications possible.Amazon.com Review
Becoming a Web developer these days requires expertise in avariety of disparate languages and tools and usually requires a wholeshelf of books. Core Web Programming delivers all you need tobecome a competent Web developer in one massive text. It covers HTML,Java, Common Gateway Interface (CGI), and JavaScript thoroughly withplenty of real-world programming examples.

The first part of thebook covers HTML 3.2, including the basic tags and more advancedtopics such as frames and cascading style sheets. This sectiondiscusses Netscape and Microsoft extensions to HTML (such as usingplug-ins for playing multimedia content and ActiveX controls). Thetutorial to HTML is comparable to those in other books of thiscategory and includes some of the author's tips for creating moreportable HTML.

The next section covers the basics of Java from aprogrammer's standpoint, including the advantages of Java and how toaccess Java documentation and tools. The tutorial that followsstresses the built-in libraries in core Java, covering drawing imagesand other graphics capabilities. Event handling in Java Developer'sKit (JDK) 1.02 (probably unnecessary these days) and JDK 1.1 receivefull treatment. The chapter on graphics double-buffering for smoothanimation within Java programs is particularly useful, and theauthor's treatment of how to access the network capabilities of Javais perhaps unmatched. (Topics here include how to load URLs usingJava's network classes and even how to create a simple HTTP server inJava.)

The third section of this text moves to CGI programmingusing Java on the server. The author introduces the basics of HTTP anddescribes how data are passed to CGI programs from the client. Thoughthis section lacks a discussion of Perl (which is still the preferredlanguage for CGI development), the treatment of CGI fundamentals andthe basics of Java servlets is good. (Java servlets are analternative--with some advantages--to Perl.)

The fourth and finalsection of the book returns to the client side once more, with atutorial on JavaScript, the scripting language for Netscapebrowsers. Topics such as how to use cookies to store information onlocal machines and how to validate arguments for CGI forms help roundout a successful tour of the technologies that developers need toprogram on the Web. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (69)

Superceded by better books
Agreed that Marty Hall knows how to write and produces great books. Knowing this, I can heartily recommend his more recent "More Servlets and JSPs" as it provides more relevant up to date information. For the Java side of things, this offers the most bang for your buck.

When this book first came out, it was attempting to cover the gamut of web development technology, and tried to go from CGI up through JSPs and the coverage was ultimately spotty. For a more focused approach to servlets and JSPs, read Hall's later books. For a better historical perspective on the evolution of web programming, look at "Web Application Architecture - Principles, Protocols and Practices" by Leon Shklar and Richard Rosen.

Outdated, unfriendly
I would be the first person to say that Marty Hall is a gifted writer. His books on Servlets and JSP are my favorite computer books, but this book is far from great. The style is cold, the material delivered too fast with too little explanations and all in all, the attempt to cover everything in one fell swoop fails. I was using the book in a class that tried to cover the material the book does, and as a learning resource it is way too shallow for thorough knowledge, more as an 'In a Nutshell' style instead.
If you want a good Javascript book, get 'Practical JavaScript for the Usable Web'; if you want a good Java book, well, look someplace else.
Spare yourself a book you will not enjoy reading (and get Marty Hall's 'Core Servlets' instead!).

A standard
This was used in an MBA-level course on "Development of Web-Based Applications."The course centered on the management of application development, and the actual web-development component of the course was pretty light.However, I've used this book as a resource before and if you use Java this is a must-have.

Outstanding, Real life examples!
This book is great for a beginner. It covers the basic of HTML, Java 2, JSP's, Servelts, and some javascript. Examples are clear and easy to understand.

Almost perfect, more JavaScript needed...
Before I bought this book: I knew about html basic elements such as head, body, p, and a few more. I had to use tools to create web pages and I never knew how it really works, and I didn't use any advanced elements. Now I can do web pages much better, use CSS and many other cool things.

This book is so well organized it has good approach, from easy elements to harder elements. It covers very interesting topics starting with text elements (for beginning), frames, css, java introduction, java programming, basic 2d & 3d graphics, mouse and keyb. events, layout managers, awt components, swing, threads, network programming (excellent one), and finally server side stuff (java server pages, servlets,jdbc...).

My wish would be to remove java programming sections, since java programming is too big and to complex to show it in 2 or 3 sections, also there are plenty java programming books around. However this is just my opinion.

*All* of the examples are SHORT and INDEPENDENT: you don't have to read all chapters in a row to be able to understand the example. Each topic has it's own nice and small example which exactly points out the essential things. I really hate reading a book from beginning to the end, therefore I hate when whole book is based on one example which grows as you go further -THIS BOOK IS NOT LIKE THAT, althow more examples would be even better.

Finally, this is one of the best books I own, the only negative mark is that java programming should be removed, as well as awt, and instead more java script should be present, however this problem is easy to overcome by buying one of numerous java script books (recomended: JavaScript Bible by Danny Goodman).

Sorry for typos, good luck to all, bye ! ... Read more

Product Description
Readers will learn key techniques through many colorful examples. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

My Programming Bible
Talk about an investment.I got this book for like thirty bucks and with the knowledge it provided I was able to more than double my salary in two years.Although some aggressive negotiating is still involved, in the end I still have to know my stuff and this book has provided me with it.Clear and easy to follow examples given throughout.When you built a solid foundation, go to the web for more updated information.

Not for beginners
I picked this book up and it gives a good introduction to javascript.However, it is NOT for the newbie.If you don't have any programming experience in a major language (C/C++, Pascal, VB, etc.) find another book. This book rushes through many concepts that adept programmers alreadyknow.As I read I kept wondering how a newcomer would absorb all theinformation presented here.

However, being knowledgeable inprogramming, I was able to pick up on how Javascript works.The book is alittle dated and doesn't list all the object properties for most objects -so a reference guide is needed.

Not a bad backup book, but don't make ityour only one. You'll wind up short changing yourself.

A WASTE of TIME & good MONEY
I must agree with those listed below. Too many typos, too many errors.I tried to get some answers via Ms Lemay via her home web page but never an answer. It seems that a minute of her time is worth more than all the timewasted by readers of her book. My advice go for either the O'Reilly seriesby Flanagan or the Javascript Bible by Danny Goodman. At least theseauthors & publishers show more consideration to & respect for thereading public who donot want to waste their hard earned cash / time.

Very good for those w/some or little programming experience
Don't listen to all the bad reviews. Those people either don't know how to program, or they don't realize that the code samples in the book are incomplete.I read this book and found it to be very useful for my needs. I am only a beginning programmer using Java and advanced using HTML (although you can hardly call HTML a programming language, any fool can create a web page). Prior experience has helped a great deal. Object oriented and object based languages are not for beginners. Get some experience under your belt before trying to learn these kind of languages on your own. Once you have that, this book will be an excellent resource.

Not recommended
I am an advanced HTML writer.I purchased this book to learn JavaScript and as quoted in the introduction "I've mastered HTML.I know all about optimizing images for the Web.I've designed complex sites with hundreds of pages - sites that are visited daily by thousands of people.I want to do more.Where do I start?"Yes that's a description of me, but I say in response to that question "NOT WITH THIS BOOK".It is confussing and definately not in my opinion for a beginner who knows no JavaScript.In Australia, this book cost me $70 and I am not impressed to say the least on spending money on a book that I cannot even begin to comprehend. ... Read more

Product Description
Teach Yourself CGI Programming with Perl 5 in a Week is for the experienced Web page developer who is familiar with basic HTML. The tutorial explains how to use CGI to add interaction to Web sites. The CD includes the source code for all the examples used in the book, along with tools for creating and editing CGI scripts, image maps, forms, and HTML. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Poor CD information...
Book is GOOD but the included CD is difficult to navigate.

To tell you frankly upto now I cannot find where are the sample scripts mentioned in the book.

Novice or pro, you can use this book.
Not the best desktop reference book and not the best straight up learning manual, this book combines strong elements of each.

Once you are comfortable working with CGI and Perl (which this book will either teachyour or assist greatly in achieving) you will still find yourself crackingthe cover often for those things that are right on the tip of your brainbut you just can't quite remember.

With the help of this book, I masteredCGI and was well on the way to my mastery of Perl.It shouldn't be theonly CGI or Perl book in your library, but it is a powerful addition.

Read other reviews carefully.
I brought this book almost 3 years ago and I do not regret it. I wasn't new to CGI, but I think the book is good for both novices and professionals alike.

Many responses criticised this book - read these carefully. Manybooks contain history. Ok so there is a CGI script missing ? Show me a bookthat doesn't. I couldn't believe the webmaster who thinks there is nothingto show how to write a CGI script. Did he read the book ???

Seriously -does anybody considering buying this book think that it's not going to tellyou how to write a CGI script ???

A reader remarks that he has lot's ofexperience of Web Design but this book is not for beginners. But the reviewfrom the beginner says this book is great.

An INCREDIBLE learning resource for beginners!!
The amount of snotty, degrading comments on this book can only lead me to believe that the authors were not able to grasp the simplest of instructions and are taking their anger out on this book.

Quite simply,this is an INCREDIBLE book; well-written, funny, and comprehensive. Notonly do you learn about CGI, you also learn Perl, SSI, some nice HTMLtricks and lots of information about web servers.

The CD includes fullwebsites, tons of scripts, and lots of basic programs you'll need if youplan to set up your own server.

GET THIS BOOK! You won't regret it.*Unless you're too dense to read simple english...*

Poorly designed, rushed, and very bad continuity
I felt this book was good only up to it's halfway point, where it strays from actually teaching you PERL techniques, to other things which have little to no relevance. Not saying that the first half was any good, either- the program sources themselves were riddled with continuity errors.Variable names changed from one reference to another in the same program.The author also took very little time to make sure the reader understoodwhat was going on; too often he would cite code 'snippets' that did exactlywhat they were supposed to do, but then didn't tell you how to fit themtogether to actually make them WORK. I suggest O'Reilley's Animal SeriesCGI book (easily idenifiable in the bookstores with their animals on thecover and black-and-cyan colors) as an alternative to this one. ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours teaches the reader the next step beyond simple HTML Web pages. This new edition covers implementing CGI with both C and Perl, and it discusses CGI's relative strengths and weaknesses in comparison with other Web programming technologies like JavaScript, Java, and PHP.It also covers recent developments in templating systems and mod_perl server add-ons.

The book takes the reader from the basics of CGI—learning, for example, how to implement and customize existing CGI programs that have been written by others—to the point where he can use CGI to create his own programs from scratch.

The book also provides numerous real-life examples of CGI scripts—database search tools, survey forms, interactive games, order forms, guest books, and more.

Customer Reviews (7)

Good for Beginners
This book encompassed most of what CGI is all about and did so straight forward enough to where a beginner could learn from it. It covers the basics of programming in a sense with all of its topics and how it's structured. It wouldn't be feasible to go straight from using the book to application programming, but like I said, it's good for beginners to start getting a feel for what the server side world is capable of and how things work.

An excellent beginners book!
I have been learning CGI/PERL/PHP for the past 6 months now. I am currently in an internship and my job is to update the webpage. This book was great! This book helped me a lot. I am definitely still a begginner at CGI and this book taught me a lot of basics. You won't learn how to create professional looking guestbooks or message boards but you will learn the basics of how to create them. This book covers just about everything you need to know to get started.

I am impressed
The content of the book impressed me.Prior to reading the book, I had taught myself Perl programming, and had learned the basics of forms processing.I didn't understand some of CGI jargon I came across in more than one Perl book that glossed over CGI in a single chapter somewhere toward the back of the book.But this book on CGI programming gave me all the information I needed to feel like a CGI pro, someone who could keep his cool in any discussion where "CGI" was spoken.

Some of the information in this book is worth writing down, so you can remember the clear understanding that reading the book gave you, and so you can regurgitate that understanding to other people later, say after months of no complex CGI programming.This book offers enough explanation to make you see things from a webmaster's perspective, but also a UNIX programmer's perspective.Without more than a basic idea of how the UNIX command-line works.

I will confess that if you don't know Perl, I don't think you'd have the same reaction I did.But CGI books shouldn't have to teach you Perl, and at the same time, Perl is THE language for CGI programming.The "brief" coverage that this book gives to other CGI languages is not meant to underplay their relative importance, but rather to give Perl the attention that it's due.Also, realize that PHP is not a CGI language, and I wouldn't classify JSP as one, either, so you definitely won't find mention of them in Rafe's book as anything other than alternatives to CGI.

So learn some Perl, say from the new "Beginning Perl" book from OReilly, and then get Rafe's book, to learn CGI."Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours" is worth buying and studying.

Great Start for a Perl Beginning
Dear Mr. Rafe Colburn:
Buddy! Just thought I had better write you to THANK you for your book, 'Sams Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours". I bought the book last Christmas, and though progress is slow, things are sinking in GOOD!
I just wrapped my head around Hour 15, Session (State) Management, and cookies. Your book is extremely well laid out, easy to understand, and there hasn't been an exercise in your book that I haven't been able to complete yet! The exercises are challenging and fun yet possible with your book. Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I have found it to be an OUTSTANDING resource for myself, a beginner in the PERL programming language.

Excellent book for quick start
This is a well written book to obtain a quick understanding of CGI. ... Read more

Product Description
Only some Web browsers support Java and JavaScript, only some VBScript -- and few people upgrade to new releases fast enough to suit the creativity of Web developers. Luckily, there's CGI (Common Gateway Interface), which allows fancy functionality, processing, and interactivity to take place on a Web server, so it doesn't much matter whether it's Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 2 or version 4 on the client side.

If you've programmed in other languages, you'll find CGI scripting pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it. If you've never programmed before, CGI is a good place to start. In either case, you'll find CGI Bible an indispensable resource and guide as you begin using CGI scripting to add valuable functionality to your Web pages.

CGI Bible provides concise, authoritative solutions to...

Creating interactive forms for exchanging information with usersUsing CGI to connect to SQL (Standard Query Language) databasesHandling complex user interactions with clickable image maps and search enginesSecuring customer communications using the latest security standardsAdding sound and video clips and building intelligent user agentsFour popular authors have combined efforts to give you the ultimate start-to-finish tour of CGI programming in this update of the best-selling Foundations of WWW Programming with HTML and CGI. You could ask for no more CGI-savvy authors than Ed Tittel, Mark Gaither, Sebastian Hassinger, and Mike Erwin.

Plus, on the bonus CD-ROM you get with CGI Bible, you'll find...

Complete URL listings from the bookReady-to-use source codeAnd excellent HTML and CGI developer utilities.Amazon.com Review
If there wasn't already an omnibus Bible series, the publishermight have had to call this one CGI and Everything Else about theWeb. Although more information is usually better than less, thisbook incorporates so much extra material--HTML, SGML, Vannevar Bush,multimedia, hypertext theory, site hosting, you name it--that the CGIinformation almost gets lost. This book would be half its present sizeand significantly handier if the non-CGI stuff were removed.

TheCGI coverage in CGI Bible is fair, with good explanations ofall the methods and environment variables, as well as some worthwhileCGI theory and troubleshooting material. However, the how-to-programchapters take the form of tired recitations about commenting andreusability and the important CGI libraries get only cursoryattention. The brightest part of this package is the CD-ROM, whichcontains some useful CGI programs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This book is a definite PASS

This book is so poorly written, named, and editted, I actually lost faith in IDG Books as well as its authors.The book appears to be "Stuff I found on the web that I thought was cool".

Any CGI information is hidden in between endless entries on HTML, SGML, how the web first came about, or whatever; punctuaited by countless URLs to "interesting" sites with CGI content.Unfortunately, I found many of these URLs to be outdated.Worse, much of the meagar information actually on CGI turned out to be factually incorrect. (see use of "+" and space in input encoding)

All examples used in the book are in Perl. If you do not know Perl cold, and you intend to use this book as a learning tool, expect to spend a significant amount of time to studying that language. You will need to pick up a Perl primer as well since this book is not usefull as one.

The CD was highly disappointingThe information on it is limited, and the packages are difficult to unpack and use. My UNIX (Solaris 2.5.1) workstation could read the CD directories but could not actually access the files in them. I had to open the CD on my PC, FTP the files across the LAN to my UNIX workstation and then un-tar them there.

Possibly the worst experience I had came when I sent a list of errors and issues to IDG Books and the authors.The response that I received from them unilaterally dismissed my concerns and was followed by a vague attempt to justify the original text.

This book almost seems to be beefed up to pass the dreaded "weight test".If you are looking for a book to explain CGI in an organized and succint manner, run away from this book.This is the only book that has ever moved me to write to a publisher to ask for a refund.

The only redeeming value of the book is that the CD is very shiny. 8-)

Everything but the kitchen sink...
If this is the bible, than I'm definitely a protestant. My major complaint about IDG Books' "CGI Bible" is that it tries to be all things to all people, covering far too many topics. From a beginner's point of view, that may not be a bad thing, but from someone somewhat fluent in Web page creation who just wants to get to the CGI "meat," there is just no need for such tangential coverage of HTML 3.2, SGML, DTDs, et cetera.

With a book on CGI, I want CGI, not whole sections on HTML validation tools. Thus, by the time the authors roll around to a discussion on CGI (and it comes across as a muddled discussion indeed), I discouragedly chucked the thing onto my (growing) pile of bad book investments.

In addition, the bundled CD-ROM disc totally blows! It is about as poorly formatted and badly laid out as I've ever seen. Files are wholly unidentifiable--until you open them and try to find out what the program is.

In overview, change the title to "Web Bible." If you're starting from the ground up, this book definitely touches base on everything one needs to know. But if you're looking solely for a CGI informatorium--take a pass.

Either way, as a Web rookie or veteran, if you buy this book, be prepared to use the CD as a drink coaster.

--W. Campbell, Encino, Calif., USA ... Read more

Product Description
CGI Programming Unleashed is the comprehensive solutions package that offers all the reference material that an advanced to expert user needs. With CGI Programming Unleashed, you will make your Web site an interactive showcase on the Internet; understand the fundamentals of CGI and Perl; learn to write secure CGI applications; set up email feedback forms and database queries; learn what you can do with server side includes; add imagemaps and forms to Web pages; build working programs with step-by-step guidance; add Web animation with server push and client pull; and customize existing programs from CGI libraries.

• Programmers will create end-user Internet applications that run programs on a Web server
• Teaches CGI and HTML integration
• CD-ROM contains source code from the book and powerful utilities

Customer Reviews (6)

cgi unleashed
I can sum it up in one word,[stinks]
The first 1/3 of the book is information
you should already know before you buy this book.

True Genius
I am impressed with the poise and genius of the author. He obviously understands computers more than the next person. And to have attended highschool while writing such a book takes great organization and timemanagement skills. Needless to say this author is a role model. To have hisintelligence at such a young age! I wish I was that gifted.

A good book, but not enough actual source code.
I was very happy to find the extra book mounted onthe CD, Perl 5 in 21 days, but the actual book itself would describe general concepts without actually giving enough concrete examples of how to do it.This book is definitely intended for those who are already fairly experienced with programming in Perl.Also, the author could stand to be a little less dry and his code should be more readable (indentation and white space).

Excellent and concise book on CGI programming
With the book stores full of CGI books that only concentrate on Perl and CGI, this is a welcomed change.C/C++, shell scripts, and others are convered here as well.An excellent book.Interesting reading with many programs/scripts provided on the sample CD that comes with this book.Definitely a must for any web developer

Fine, but could have been 50% shorter.
When I finished reading this book I realized there wasn't much to learn about CGI. In fact, the first thing I did with my computer after reading was learning Perl with the accompanying HTML documents.
You will also be able to learn Perl with the examples in the book, but some of them are not too useful.
Anyway, I had to buy it to realize about these facts (or, at least, what I think are facts), so I am not disappointed at all.

PS: The book tries to teach you a lot of things you will probably not be interested in. ... Read more

Product Description
Now developers can learn how to write robust, secure, and efficient Common Gateway Interface programs for the Web. Ideal for DOS, UNIX, or Windows users since CGI is platform independent, the book contains an abundance of solutions to "real-world" problems, along with a helpful focus on CGI scripting. The CD-ROM includes source code and examples from the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book for starters
CGI Developer's Guide is a great book for starters with little knowledge about CGI. Try it!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive professional instruction and reference guide for World Wide Web content developers, this book explores all aspects of the development processes, implementation, tools, and programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

The 'Guts' of web development.Comprehensive reference.
Includes extensive background material, useful examples and a wealth ofURL's covering all aspects of Web development.Good historical informationgives the reader a firm foundation.While some more recent information islacking (i.e., client side image maps), it is stilla good starting pointfor the serious developer.

Helpful, yet it covers a lot more besides HTML & CGI
This book was quite helpful to starting up Web Development, although if you aren't looking for 10 opening chapters of web fundamentals, you may want to look elsewhere. HOWEVER, This book will cover all you'll need to know to get deep into HTML.

Very good--much more that you think you are buying!
First, I must admit that I only skimmed the initial sections on web philosophy and design.Other reviewers seemed put off by the depth of those sections.Though I have only built small web sites so far, I very much welcome having a source of knowledge to ensure my larger developments do not look like a poorly organized beginner's site.The design sections are really more than you bargained for, and they don't take away from the excellent discussions and reference material on HTML and CGI.The HTML section in particular let's the reader know which version of HTML supports each tag, so browser compatibility can be ensured.Simple samples that focus on the tags being learned are provided.The book is very comprehensive; hopefully, beginners won't find it too overwhelming.This book is highly recommended.

The WORST book on HTML you can ever imagine
You won't find anything worth reading until you are 500 pages into the book and that is not a joke. The first 10 chapters is all useless garbage the authors threw together to get a big book. Those chapters cover planning and are written by people that don't even understand the word plan. To help the authors out, here is what Websters dictionary says the word plan means "n. a scheme of action or a drawing made to represent the top view." Hey, that's a single sentance. I just saved you 500 pages of reading.

The remaining 500 pages have dubious value. I mean if you've never heard of HTML and Web publishing, you may want to consider this book. HOWEVER you won't understand a word the authors have to say. I say you can do much better elsewhere.

An incredibly comprehensive source
Although the size of this book may give one pause, it definitely is worth it - this book covers *everything* one needs to know about Web publishing, from design and implementation to review to actually writing it. The CD-ROM has anything you could want. This book goes beyond HTML and CGI; it goes straight to the heart of the Web ... Read more