[WEB400] Re: CGI URL

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Brad Stone wrote:
> Hans, it wouldn't take much at all to make a CGIParse
> wrapper that wouldn't "care" if it was GET or POST.  As a
> matter of fact, the CGIDEV2 kit does this.  And, it also
> allows you to retrieve mutliple values for the same field,
> and it doesn't need to use the CGIParse API to do this,
> which was brilliant in my opinion.  Before we could use
> CGIParse, there wasn't an easy way to do this.  But, CGIDEV2
> had the capability.
>
> The tools you're used to using happen to have system/other
> developers that add all these cool things.  We must do it
> ourselves because there is not as much exposure/support.
> Doesn't make one better than the other, but, it does mean
> anything that is done with one CGI language can be done with
> any of them, pretty much.
I suppose we should be writing CGI programs in assembly language
then, eh?  After all, assembly language is just as capable as any
other language, right?  ;-)

No, there are indeed quantitative means to compare the suitability
of particular programming languages to particular tasks.  To
illustrate, I can send you my 200 line Python program that does the
same job as a published 400 line RPG CGI program.  (To keep the
comparison fair, I kept the program structure the same and included
the same comments.)

Yes, CGIDEV2 is an important piece of software for CGI RPG
programmers, and Mel should be commended for his work in that area.
But looking at the readme file, I see some functions missing.  Where
is the function to escape non-HTML text in an HTML document?  Where
is the function to properly URL-encode a query string?  These are
things needed by practically every CGI program, and are standard
features of the libraries provided to the programmers of other
languages commonly used for CGI programming.  How many RPG CGI
programs have bugs in them because the programmer wasn't told he
needed to watch for these issues?  In particular, will the 2nd
editions of your two books discuss these important issues?

Cheers!  Hans