Using CGI

Amazon.com

This omnibus book does more than merely tell readers how to solve common CGI programming problems with the least possible hassle (which is no mean feat in itself). Special Edition Using CGI also explains CGI concepts and theory in a way that enables the reader to start figuring out additional solutions independently.

The authors begin with some very basic information about what CGI does and how it enhances HTML. Then, they promptly get into the useful stuff--application-oriented programming for CGI. Example programs written in Perl, C, SQL, and various Unix shells appear throughout the book. All the popular CGI applications, including hit counters, site searchers, WAIS interfaces, chat forums, and image maps, get their due attention. Special Edition Using CGI gives server-side includes (SSI) a more detailed treatment than other CGI manuals.

The book almost loses its focus when it starts talking about Web multimedia, including online electronic cameras and RealAudio broadcasting. But the extra material is related, albeit distantly, to CGI programming, and there's not too much of it, so you can zip along to several "tips and techniques" programming chapters. The section on Perl is useful since it covers the most popular function libraries, and the Visual Basic chapter includes an informative discussion of WinCGI. Special Edition Using CGI wraps up with chapters about debugging and security. There's a CD-ROM that contains all the sample programs and all the popular Perl libraries.

Special Edition Using CGI will both help you set up common CGI applications quickly and teach you how to solve more complicated CGI problems on your own. It's a great choice for the beginner with big CGI ambitions./p>

Reviews From AMAZON.COM

Real Programmers Don't Want this Book

I really enjoy the Using Series, and look for them whenever I want to learn more about a certain topic. However, this book is deplorable. It is not made for anyone looking to write their own code, or anyone who actually wants to program. All this book tries to do is show you how to use someone else's code. I do not mean another module, such as the infamous CGI.pm moudle, but rather using another script and "tweaking" it for your needs. It also does not seek to explain the theory behind the code. I was also quite disappointed in how it was organized. The Using Seies are good books, but this one doesn't belong in the family. There are much better books out there that will serve your needs.

Pooly written with incomplete examples

I found this book to be hard to read and poorly written. The examples are very difficult to follow because most are only code segments not the full code. This makes it very diffcult to follow. As any experienced programmer will tell you "Nothing helps more than a good example.". This book is highly lacking of good examples. I have several years of experience with programming in several languages, which allowed me to fill the gaps in the examples, how ever a beginning programmer would be lost. In conclusion I do not recommend this book to a programmer of any level.