CGI Programming with Perl, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Like the rest of the Internet, the Common Gateway Interface , or CGI, has come a very long way in a very short time. Just a handful of years ago, CGI scripts were more of a novelty than practical; they were associated with hit counters and guestbooks, and were written largely by hobbyists. Today, CGI scripts, written by professional web developers, provide the logic to power much of the vast structure the Internet has become.

History

Despite the attention it now receives, the Internet is not new. In fact, the precursor to today’s Internet began thirty years ago. The Internet began its existence as the ARPAnet, which was funded by the United States Department of Defense to study networking. The Internet grew gradually during its first 25 years, and then suddenly blossomed.

The Internet has always contained a variety of protocols for exchanging information, but when web browsers such as NCSA Mosaic and, later, Netscape Navigator appeared, they spurred an explosive growth. In the last six years, the number of web hosts alone has grown from under a thousand to more than ten million. Now, when people hear the term Internet, most think of the Web. Other protocols, such as those for email, FTP, chat, and news, certainly remain popular, but they have become secondary to the Web, as more people are using web sites as their gateway to access these other services.

The Web was by no means the first technology available for publishing and exchanging information, but ...