Special Edition Using Perl 5 for Web Programming
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Spotlight Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 3.5Customer Rating: 3
Summary: Rushed into hardcopy
Comment: QUE must have pushed this book into print. As other reviewers have noted, one has to have dogged determination and stamina to digest this book. It presents a confusing, unrelated and diverse array of "my pet way do it" by several authors. The examples on the CD are pathetic - all lumped into one directory, no readme file(s), incomplete and therefore not runnable as-is. Example: to extract the files related to Ch 9 required sifting through the entire chapter, and then register.htm and its CGI backend were conspicuously missing. However, after bludgeoning my way through most of the book, I have extracted a small number of gems that are actually useful in real-life projects. The CD contains this whole book plus two others in HTML format. A nice idea, but each one is disorganized by a totally different team of people. There is no unified 'look-n-feel' and navigation is painful in all three books. Good as a reference, shop for it 2nd hand (and pay only what it is worth).
Customer Rating: 5
Summary: Very good if you want to make websites using Perl/CGI
Comment: I've read at least 6 books on perl, but if you want to specifically learn perl for websites, then this book is very good. It talks about databases (DBMs and SQL). Managing sessions and validating users, and it also talks about creating a shopping cart system. There is a chapter on CGI sercurity. Although the book was written in 1996 its a very good step in the right direction of making good, reliable CGI applications. In fact, compared to other CGI books printed in 96, this book is years ahead of them.
Customer Rating: 4
Summary: Be patient, and it'll pay off
Comment: When I bought this book, I had absolutely no serious programming background. I was pretty accomplished in HTML, but nothing advanced. At first, the book was a bit hard. But the technique that I found helpful is to re-read each section (or each topic). I haven't even looked on the CD yet, and I'm learning loads about Perl. Also, reading this book really helps one understand some more advanced Perl tutorials on the web. It doesn't get 5 stars though, because the reader has to really be committed. This isn't a light read: get in the thinking mood when you read it.