Sams Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours, Second Edition

Application Design

In the previous chapter, the example script was simple. It enabled users to submit a form, and if the form is valid, it forwards the contents to a specific email address. Given that it follows a very simple request/response model, there’s really no architecture. Most applications tend to be significantly more complex. In this book, by the end you’ll see that there are a number of larger applications than the ones you’ve seen so far. Even so, they’re not nearly as complex as most of the applications you’ll find in the real world.

When you create more complex Web applications, it’s generally a good idea to have a design of some kind in mind, rather than just attacking the problem using brute force. In addition to making sure ...