Perl stands for Practical Extraction and Report Language. It was created, and continues to
be developed by Larry Wall. Perl is well suited for working with text files and information, and
for use on the World Wide Web through the Common Gateway Interface, or CGI. Perl boasts many
advantages over other web languages, namely it's simplicity and multiplicity. Perl allows you
to program the same application multiple ways, and for this reason it is the choice language
among many web programmers. But, Perl is also a lot of fun, and you can find free scripts available
all over the web.
If you have a hosting account, and you want to use Perl scripts on your website, make sure
your server host has Perl installed and enabled for your account. You can do a simple test to find
out. Log on to your server with an FTP, and look for a directory on the server side named cgi-bin.
If you can access this directory, this usually means you have Perl on your server. The cgi-bin is
the place you will store your Perl/CGI scripts for use on your web pages. If none of this makes
sense to you, please don't hesitate to contact me on my Help Page.
I will be glad to help you get started.
