learning perl

It's been AGES since I've used Perl, but if I remember correctly I think you have to Telnet in to issue those commands. Your host should provide you with instructions on how to do this, but it would probably be something like:

(At dos prompt)
telnet (your domain)

Then it should ask you for credentials, then you should be able to issue that command. Don't hold me to this though, I haven't used Perl for almost 4 years!

Oh goodness, did I see something about DOS? Don't think I want to go there. I tried that once and really messed my computer up. I don't know how to do the telnet thing either. I have a lot to learn don't I?

What I am wanting to do is put a password protected page on my web site so that my clients can go to a client only page. I tried a password script but you can view source and see their usernames and passwords.

Is there another way I could do this? Something a little easier?

Hmm, maybe the easiest route is to ask your host to password protect a directory? Then, throw that protected client page in that directory. I guess this isn't ideal though, since everyone uses the same password it would be hard to keep ex-clients out.

Your host should provide some sort of control panel so you don't have to use all those icky dos commands, and if they don't maybe it's time for a new host?

If you have database access you could always store the logins in there, but that really isn't that easy to setup either. If you were using ASP I could help you out with a little script but it sounds like you're not on a Windows server.

I do have a control panel and each client has their own login and password but I wanted to do a page on my web site that has a password also. Maybe I am making it to complicated by doing this. Guess I could just send them directly to their login page. That would be the simple thing to do until I learn more about my new play toys. (perl, asp, cgi-bin)

I tried to do a simple page in asp but the page was blank when I uploaded it. I think I have to call my host and have them turn something on before i can do asp....not sure. I will have to look into this further. Would asp be easier to learn than perl?

Quote: If you were using ASP I could help you out with a little script but it sounds like you're not on a Windows server.

I am using Windows 98. This doesn't mean that I am on a Windows server does it? I read somewhere that you have to download something from Microsoft to do asp. I want to say that it was called MSI or something like that.

I will read up on this a bit more and see if I can figure out exactly what I need to do and maybe post again when I become more knowledgeable. I don't really know if I am asking the right questions or not. I'll take a rain check on the asp lessons though.

Thanks Peter. You are a dear.

I'm not sure if this will help, but my professor told everyone to go to this page to learn PERL. http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/Perl/start.html

I'm in the same position. The most I know is layout code like (HTML). I've seen the awesome benefits reaped from knowing how to program, so I decided to sign up for the advanced lab of my Publishing on the World Wide Web course. I have my first PERL assignment due on Wednesday and I'm screwed. It's so simple I'm pissed at myself that I don't know how to program it. I just don't have the mind for programming I guess.

I wish I could quit Architecture and go hardcore into these other more interesting classes.

hey thanks!! I'll check that out. Oh and I see that this is you first post here. Welcome to the forum!!!

Welcome to TWF, dcdomain!

I think I was made for programming. Ever since I was little, I've enjoyed mind games. When I started to learn programming, I became addicted. There's all these little problems to solve to get to the final solution.

Perl... my first reall experience with perl was hacking UGB (Ultimate Guestbook, put out by UBB). I took one of the original files that was 50K and made it 80K, and altered a few others. I doubled the number of customizable fields and added another page to the admin which controlled a fonts/colors/etc.

I don't even have that hacked verion of UGB anymore. After learning PHP, I converted nearly everything to PHP & mySQL. And my guestbook script is faster and much smaller, though I have yet to write a really wicked admin for it.

Ah I wish I had your skills and mindset. I lean more towards the graphics side of the web and have the hardest time trying to read and learn coding. Having architecture as a major really prevents me from having time to study any outside subject matter. But I've seen the benefits and if it takes me five years to learn PHP it'll happen, eventually I'll get it.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

I am completely the opposite. I cannot draw crooked stick figures. I have a cousin and a brother who are 'digital artists', and a cousin who is a 'hardware guy'. My digital artist cousin has learned PHP, and really quite well (digitalart.org). My brother and other cousin haven't really a clue, and don't really care to get one.

It seems that there are those who are artists and those who are problem solvers. And very rarely, there are people like my cousin who can bat with both hands.

Doesnt Perl need a server? like PWS, Apache etc to run off line, if these were installed you'd have a cgi bin which inturn would mean you could run them

and in the .cgi file something like #!/usr/local/bin/perl

*could be a case of the blind leading the blind :)*

I think all you need to install is perl. I think that the .cgi files are executed like a shell script. And I think that the webserver changes the output from stdout to the remote browser.

Just me thinking outloud.

Disaster-master, I'm just curious how you came to decide to learn perl and not something else.

I hope to learn perl at some stage but am always interested what stood out in peoples choices.

Quote: Disaster-master, I'm just curious how you came to decide to learn perl and not something else.

I was looking for a password script for my web site and used a javascript one. Then I noticed that you could view source and see the usernames and passwords. Lot of good that did huh?

Anyway, I started looking for something more secure and found the Bignosebird.com site. After looking over all of their scripts, the one that I wanted was in perl. That is how I got stuck on perl. I think maybe that perl is going to be a little too complicated and that I should probably just use a remotely hosted thingy for now.

I am really confused on the difference between perl and asp and the cgi-bin thing is driving me crazy. I'll just have to research some more before I can jump on here and ask questions because I don't know what the heck I am talking about....LOL

I went to that site that dcdomain suggested. I have to learn some things before that site will be of any use to me. Way to advanced for my wittle brain.

If you know of any good learning sites that I could check out or if you recommend that I learn something other than perl throw it my way. I am ready for a challenge but don't really know which way to go.

I think like anything, practice, practice, practice
learn from your mistakes, I remember thinking I'd never get the hang of HTML, those tables and forms got the better of me a few times but now I can laugh about it cause its like second nature.

a few links on perl I have bookmarked are:

http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/7331/ten_perl.html
Take 10 Minutes to Learn (TM) - PERL (its title)
http://www.webreference.com/programming/cgi.html
links to perl and cgi
http://www.cgi101.com/class/
CGI Programming 101
http://www.tutorialfind.com/tutorials/
do a search for perl

I havent used any of these, just came across them one day and bookmarked them for when I take the step towards perl

good luck

Here's the first step I took to learn Perl:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1471967126

You bought it on ebay?!
I never even thought about buying a book on ebay. Whatever works, right?

Actually, I was just showing a picture of the book. I didn't buy that one on Ebay. But I have bought a ton of books on Ebay.