Overview
Checking links, batch editing HTML files, tracking users, and writing CGI scripts—these are the often tedious daily tasks that can be done much more easily with Perl, the scripting language that runs on almost all computing platforms. If you're more interested in streamlining your web activities than in learning a new programming language, Perl for Web Site Management is for you: it's not so much about learning Perl as it is about using Perl to do common web chores more efficiently.
The secret is that, although becoming a Perl expert may be hard, most Perl scripts are relatively simple. Using Perl and other open source tools, you'll learn how to:
- Incorporate a simple search engine
- Write a simple CGI gateway
- Convert multiple text files into HTML
- Monitor log files
- Track users as they navigate your site
Even if you don't have any programming background, this book will get you quickly past Perl's seemingly forbidding barrier of chops and chomps, execs and elsifs. You'll be able to put an end to using clunky tools, editing files tediously by hand, or relying on programmers and system administrators to do "the hard stuff" for you. Sure, you might learn a little bit about programming as well, and perhaps something about the role of open source tools on the Web. But the purpose of Perl for Web Site Management isn't to educate you—it's to empower you. Whether you're a developer, a designer, or simply a dabbler on the Web, this book is the plain-English, hands-on introduction to Perl you've been waiting for.
Checking links, batch editing HTML files, tracking users, and writing CGI scripts--these are the often tedious daily tasks that can be done much more easily with Perl, the scripting language that runs on almost all computing platforms. For readers more interested in streamlining Web activities than in learning a new programming language, "Perl for Web Site Management" is the perfect solution.
Synopsis
Checking links, batch editing HTML files, tracking users, and writing CGI scripts—these are the often tedious daily tasks that can be done much more easily with Perl, the scripting language that runs on almost all computing platforms. For readers more interested in streamlining Web activities than in learning a new programming language, "Perl for Web Site Management" is the perfect solution.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewResponsible for a web site? You may be following a very familiar trajectory. You never thought about becoming a programmer. But one day you need to publish a form, and you want the contents of your filled-out forms to be automatically emailed to you. You need a CGI script -- and there's nobody around to write one except you-know-who.
Perl for Web Site Management is the solution. This gentle Perl introduction focuses specifically on the skills most valuable to web pros. By Chapter 3, you're creating mail gateways using the magical cgi.pm module. By Chapter 5, you're parsing existing data to generate hundreds of web pages at once. Your Perl skills are already good enough to clean "dirty data," generate pages organized into categories, and automate the creation of a home page, links and all.
And you've barely started. You'll transform your log files into information you can actually understand and use. Identify dead links before they madden your visitors. Use SWISH-E to provide fast, powerful site search. Monitor your search engine positioning. Even use templates to rewrite your whole site at once. In short, you'll solve real problems, save oodles of time, write real programs. Yes, you. (Bill Camarda)
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jerseybased marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.