Re: Standard CGI module vs CGI::Fast/CGI::Simple

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Mimi Cafe <[email protected]> wrote:
>  Hi,
>
>
> I will be developing a database backed CGI application and now looking into
> CPAN modules to use. Now my idea is to find people who have experience using
> the modules I am considering to hear their opinion. For instance, I normally
> write a subroutine which prints the overall layout of all my pages, so each
> time I need to sent a page to the user I call the subroutine to pass some
> values to print the page (see example):
>
> sub print_layout {
> $x = @_;
> print   # print html header here
> print "$x\n";
>
> print # print html footer here
> }
>
> Now I read of CGI::Fast, CGI::Simple and Mason. Question, are these modules
> easy to understand and use? Sometimes it take too long to get a module
> installed and ready to use, and then comes the documentation etc. Can
> someone who has experience with Fast CGI, CGI::Simple or Mason comment on
> these? I had a quick look at CGI::Simple docs and it looks almost like the
> standard CGI module by Lincoln Stein, so why should this be use?
> CGI::Session also looks like Apache::Session.
>
> My application attract lot of traffic and should grow very fast, so I am
> looking to plan properly now in order to increase maintainability in the
> future.
>
> The web site will generate thumbnails on the fly and speed is crucial due to
> high traffic. Any suggestion from experienced CGI developers will
> be appreciated.

I would look at using CGI::Application or Catalyst for maintainability
and functionality.  These are application frameworks, but you will
find that they organize your thinking.  Also, both work well in a
mod_perl setting, so when you need to upgrade to mod_perl for speed,
it is pretty painless to do.  Templating, database interactions, etc.,
are also well-thought-out.

Sean