All of my CGI scripts are written in Perl with an eye towards robust, reliable, and tight coding that will work correctly in all environments. I learned CGI myself and then started to use it on the job for email forms, surveys, and multi-page order forms (also known as "shopping carts"). CGI allow much more versatility with user information, such as formatting such data either for an email or for a delimited text file which can be downloaded into a spreadsheet. Users can also maintain and modify files kept on the server which contain information they might want to access at any time.

CGI scripts are a great way to personalize a web site or to send user information to someone with whom they'd like to communicate. It's in these two areas that I've done most of my CGI work; I've programmed:

• personal address books;
• shopping carts;
• email forms; and
• survey collection forms.