This book provides the tools and principles needed to design a high-performance, dynamic Web site using Perl. Special attention is given to templates, integration, and load testing. Topics covered include the need for speed, document management with templates and embedded Perl, faster performance using persistent Perl, good Web coding style, faster database access from Perl, and pairing XML with Perl for content management and B2B communication. Emphasis is placed on robust, scalable solutions for dynamic database-backed, template-based or XML-based Web sites. The book's focus on optimization is a unique approach. Readers of this book should be able to build a high-performance Perl-based Web solution as well as recommend one with confidence.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 3 Ratings

I'd call it "Perl for Responsive Web Applications". - 2001-12-01
Reviewer Rating:
From the title, I initially expected a collection of utilities, tips, and CGI scripts. But this is more of an overview than a cookbook. It lays out the current state of the technology necessary for developing responsive web applications in a timely manner with Perl. It does include explanatory and example source code, but the examples are provided more to illustrate problems and solutions than to be used as ingredients in applications. Actually running the examples will require the ability to set up your own application environments (and probably some code tweaking).

The technologies Chris Radcliffe primarily advocates in this book are Perl itself, persistence as a method of improving site performance, template processing, and the vast sets of libraries that Perl makes available. I found this book to provide a broad and comprehensive road map for using Perl on the Web, for those with limited time to devote to Perl (such as myself).

(For a cookbook, I've picked up Paul DuBois's MySQL and Perl for the Web, also published by New Riders. It looks good so far.)

The first six chapters introduce the big problems in web application development from a variety of aspects. (I personally wanted more illustrative examples here.) If you are not familiar with issues affecting server load, such as the time required to establish a connection from scratch every time in the standard CGI model, these chapters should provide plenty of material to think about. If you are under the impression that faster processors and faster languages will solve all your problems, you should definitely read these chapters.

The next three chapters outline techniques and resources available for building web apps with Perl. The remainder of the book introduces specific tools -- including tools at the leading edge, for XML, wireless, and B2B. The last chapter describes plans for the next version of Perl. (Check the table of contents on line to see which libraries and other tools are covered.) Program examples in these chapters give a good flavor of what can be expected with the tools.

I am something of fan of Perl for text processing for one-byte character sets (and two-byte character sets when there isn't much need for classifying the two-byte characters -- looking forward to Perl 6 here), but my work has taken me away from open source and Perl for a while. Reading this book, I've been able to catch up quite a bit on what I've been missing out on in the Perl world.

I think four is an honest rating, by the way. It has some rough spots, but the material is _very_ timely. I would like to see a second edition in a couple of years, with more specifics, more examples, and otherwise adjusted to match what should be a more stable technology then.

Best book on Perl I've read - 2001-09-06
Reviewer Rating:
I found Perl for the Web to be an accessible and very useful book. I often find these types
of books to be intimidating, but Chris Radcliff kept my attention and helped me keep my
focus. I also liked the flamingos.

Perl + PSP + Speedy SQL = Quick Response = More Market Share - 2003-07-02
Reviewer Rating:
Implementing the modules and techniques focused on in this book, our high-traffic, media-intensive sites have double in response time. Allowing greater scalability and has resulted in more market shares.

Chris Radcliff is extremely skilled in his role of author and web developer, who has so obviously done the leg work, presenting only sound, tested principles which really work!

I give full recommendation!

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