CGI and Perl

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a mechanism to connect web pages to (almost always non-Java) software on the server. Perl is a scripting language usually used to make the input for the server software ready (think about options and attributes), and to translate the output from the server software in a form suitable for the web browser.

The combination of both is very often used to web-enable old software ("legacy") written in older computer languages such as Fortran, C, Cobol, PL1, ...

In the past, we have used CGI and Perl in order to web-enable computer chemistry programs such as XLogP and MOPAC.

Computer Chemistry Consultancy, June 2001