On Sun, 14 Nov 1999, Randall wrote:
> > OK, for ignoramuses like me!!!
> > Please explain the terms:
> > 'CGI script' & 'perl script'
>
> Ok, I'll take a stab at it, & if I get it wrong, Malcolm and the others
> can laugh and throw old Mountain Dew cans at me <g>
No, there are no empty carbonated beverage containers being hurled from MY
direction...
> Perl is a powerful programming language, that has become the 'de facto'
> standard for writing CGI programs. Perl is what's known as an
> 'interpretive' language, which essentially means that programs written
> in Perl are stored only in their 'source' or human-readable form. (The
'human-readable' is subject to each particular human. Here's a few lines
of perl code:
print "\<ul\>\n";
@array = split(/\t/,$string);
foreach($item(@array) {
print "\<li\>$item\<\/li\>\n";
}
print "\<\/ul\>\n";
...which clearly is a handy way of parsing a tab-delimited line of text
and displaying it as an unordered HTML list. You know you've been doing
too much perl when the above is readable ;-)
> So, a "Perl script" is a program written in Perl.
Bit O' Trivia: Perl is (perhaps!) an acronym for "Pathologically Eclectic
Rubbish Lister". I think it has other meanings too. Some are not very
nice.
If anyone likes I will forward the URL of a project I (my company) just
completed that is very heavy on perl. I won't advertise it over the list
as the site isn't finished yet (and its name will be changed when it is)
-Malcolm
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