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Programming languages are the backbone of modern technology, empowering developers to create everything from simple scripts to complex web applications. They drive the digital age, enabling developers to craft everything from apps to websites. Each language, like cgi for simplicity or Perl for text manipulation, brings distinct capabilities
In the early days of the internet, creating dynamic and interactive web content was a groundbreaking achievement, largely made possible by the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and the Perl programming language. CGI, a standard protocol, allows web servers to execute external programs, often written in Perl, to generate web pages on the fly, enabling features like form processing and database integration. Perl, known as the Practical Extraction and Report Language, became a favorite for CGI scripting due to its powerful text manipulation capabilities and ease of use compared to more structured languages like C.
As the internet evolved, CGI and Perl played pivotal roles in transforming static web pages into dynamic, user-driven experiences. CGI enabled Servers to run Perl scripts that could process user inputs, query databases, and generate tailored HTML responses, powering early e-commerce sites, forums, and more. Perl’s versatility, with its robust regular expression support and cross-platform compatibility, made it a go-to choice for developers in the 1990s. However, as web traffic surged, CGI’s inefficiencies, such as spawning new processes for each request, led to its decline in favor of faster frameworks like PHP and Python-based Django. Today, while Perl and CGI are less common in modern web applications, their influence persists in legacy systems and specialized scripting tasks, underscoring their foundational impact on the interactive web.
The Common Gateway Interface is a standard way for a Web Server to pass a Web User requests to an application program and to receive data back to the user. When the user requests a Web page (for example, by clicking on a highlighted word), the Server sends back the requested page. However, when a user fills out a form on a web page and clicks "Send", it needs to be processed by an application or program. The Web Server typically passes the form information to a program that processes the data. This particulate method for passing data back and forth between the Server and the application is called the common gateway interface (CGI). It is part of the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
If you are creating a website and want to use or call a CGI program, you can specify the name of the application in the (URL) "Uniform Resource Locator" that you code in the HTML page. This URL can be specified as part of the FORM Tags if you are creating a form.
For example, you might this code in a "Contact Us" page:
<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="https://web-sites.com/cgi-bin/formprog.pl">
The server at web-sites.com would pass control to the CGI application called "formprog.pl" to record the entered data and return a confirmation message. (The ".pl" indicates a program written in PERL, but other languages could have been used.)
The common gateway interface provides a consistent way for data to be passed from the user's request to the application program and back to the user. This means that the person who writes the application program can make sure it gets used no matter which operating system the server uses (PC, Macintosh, UNIX, and others). It is simply a basic way for information to be passed from the Web Server about your request to the application program and back again.
Because the interface is consistent, a programmer can write a CGI program in a number of different languages. The most popular languages for CGI applications are: C, C++, Java, and PERL.
An alternative to a CGI application is Microsoft's Active Server Page (ASP), in which a script that is embedded in a Web page is executed at the server before the page is sent.
Perl or Practical Extraction and Report Language is a family of script programming languages that are similar in syntax to the C language, including Perl 5 and Perl 6. Perl is an open source, general-use, interpreted language. In general, Perl is easier to learn and faster to code than the more structured C and C++ languages.
Perl programs can, however, be quite sophisticated. It is often used for developing common gateway interface (CGI) programs because it has good text manipulation facilities, although it also handles binary files. Perl includes a number of popular UNIX facilities such as sed, awk, and tr. It can be compiled just before execution into either C code or cross-platform bytecode. When compiled, a Perl program is almost as fast as a fully pre-compiled C language program. A plug-in can be installed for some servers, such as Apache, so that Perl is loaded permanently in memory, thus reducing compile time and resulting in faster execution of CGI Perl scripts.
Perl is also a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted programming language known for its flexibility and power in text processing, system administration, web development, and more. Developed by Larry Wall in 1987, it combines features from C, shell scripting (sh), AWK, and sed, with a focus on practical, quick solutions for tasks like string manipulation, file handling, and regular expressions.
Common uses include web development (e.g., CGI scripts), system administration, data parsing, and bioinformatics. While its popularity has waned for web applications, it remains a powerful tool for scripting and legacy systems.
Perl for Perl Newbies Series
Dive into Perl with perl-begin.org's "Perl for Newbies" tutorial, mastering modular coding, CPAN modules, regular expressions, and scalable scripts through hands-on lessons for beginners and pros alike.
The Perldoc Tutorials
Master Perl with perldoc.perl.org's tutorials: explore perlintro for beginners, perlretut for regex, and perlopentut for file handling, with extensive docs on CPAN and more. Start with perlintro and then continue with other tutorials.
Perl.com
Learn Perl security with perl.com's "Beginner's Intro to Perl - Part 6": Doug Sheppard guides on using comments and built-in features to write secure, bug-free code.
Perl Maven
Learn to run Perl CGI scripts on Apache2 with perlmaven.com's guide: configure Apache with ScriptAlias, enable CGID, set permissions (755), and debug errors for dynamic web content
LPW: Beginners Perl by Dave Cross
Dive into Perl with Dave Cross's "LPW: Beginner's Perl" on SlideShare: a beginner-friendly tutorial covering Perl basics, CPAN, and practical coding tips for scalable scripts.
Perl One-Liners Explained by Peteris Krumins
Master Perl one-liners with catonmat.net's "Perl One-Liners Explained, Part I": learn concise scripts for text processing, regex, and file manipulation, ideal for quick command-line tasks.
Common Gateway Interface CGI documentation
The W3C's CGI page (w3.org/CGI) explains the Common Gateway Interface, detailing how web servers run Perl or other scripts to generate dynamic content, with specs on environment variables and HTTP headers.
CGI Made Really Easy
Learn CGI programming with Perl on jmarshall.com's "CGI Made Really Easy": a beginner-friendly guide to creating dynamic web forms, processing inputs, and generating HTML output using simple Perl scripts.
CGI Programming 101
Discover CGI programming with Perl at cgi101.com's "CGI Programming 101": a beginner’s guide to crafting dynamic web pages, handling forms, cookies, file uploads, and server-side scripting with practical examples.
Kali Linux Tutorial
Explore Kali Linux with guru99.com's tutorial: master ethical hacking, penetration testing, and security tools like Metasploit, Nmap, and Burp Suite for network analysis and vulnerability scanning.
CGI: An Introduction
Learn CGI basics with tutsplus.com's "CGI: An Introduction": a clear guide to using Perl for dynamic web content, covering script setup, form handling, and server-side processing for beginners.
Tutorialspoint
Master Perl CGI with tutorialspoint.com's guide: learn to create dynamic web pages, handle form data, and use environment variables for server-side scripting with practical Perl examples.
W3 Schools
Learn Python CGI programming with w3schools.in's tutorial: create dynamic web pages, handle form inputs, and configure Apache for server-side scripting using Python, with clear examples.
CGI Programming 101
Dive into Perl CGI with cgi101.com's "Introduction to CGI Programming 101": learn to build dynamic websites, process forms, manage cookies, and handle file uploads with beginner-friendly Perl scripting examples.
CGI Made Really Easy
Learn CGI with Perl on jmarshall.com's "CGI Made Really Easy": a beginner’s guide to building dynamic web forms, processing user inputs, and generating HTML output using straightforward Perl scripts.
Apache Tutorial
Dynamic Content with CGI - Apache HTTP. It is a simple way to put dynamic content on your website.
ResourceIndex.com
The website cgi-resources.com is currently inaccessible, displaying a "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable" error, indicating server issues or maintenance. No specific CGI programming details or resources can be retrieved at this time.
CGI and Perl Script Resource.
Explore Perl and PHP at script-resource.com: a directory of CGI scripts for webmasters, offering tools like counters, auctions, guestbooks, and form processors to enhance dynamic websites.
CosmicPerl.com
Master Perl CGI with cosmicperl.com's secure, reliable scripts: create dynamic websites with tools like RSS feeds, form processors, and guestbooks, supported by a blog for updates and tips.
The PCman Website
Discover free Perl CGI scripts at thepcmanwebsite.com: easy-to-install tools like form processors and environment variable listers, with customizable headers and simple setup for webmasters.
Matt's Script Archive
Explore Perl CGI at scriptarchive.com: free, open-source scripts like FormMail and Guestbook for dynamic websites, with easy setup and customization for webmasters.
TheFreeCountry.com
Discover free Perl CGI scripts at thefreecountry.com: tools like form mailers, guestbooks, and counters for dynamic websites, with easy installation and customization for webmasters.
nms Project
Explore nms-cgi.sourceforge.net's Perl CGI scripts: open-source, secure replacements for tools like FormMail and Guestbook, designed for easy setup and reliable dynamic web functionality.
CGI and Perl were instrumental in shaping the early interactive web, providing developers with the tools to create dynamic, user-responsive content that laid the groundwork for today’s sophisticated web applications. While CGI’s process-heavy approach and Perl’s complex syntax have been largely supplanted by modern frameworks and languages like Python, JavaScript, and PHP, their legacy endures in the foundational concepts of web interactivity. For those maintaining legacy systems or exploring the roots of web development, understanding CGI and Perl offers valuable insight into the evolution of the internet and the technologies that continue to drive it forward.
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