CGI Programming (cont..)
As the CGI application is executed as a process external to the web server, there are several issues:
- Security, as the program is external to the web server, it is not limited in its actions. Users with CGI access have full access to server resources.
- Speed, the program must be started up, executed, and terminated before the user can complete their request. For scripting languages such as Perl, the Perl interpreter must be started up, interpret the script, and execute before the client receives its information.
- Flexibility, since the server simply receives the STDOUT from the application, there is no real interaction between application and web server.