In object oriented designs, one of the first steps to designing a solution to a particular problem is finding "the happy path". This is the sequence of steps that can be done in a particular order to solve a particular problem. It assumes everything goes right and ignores equally valid alternative approaches, and does a lot of hand waving over complicated but straightforward implementation details.
The purpose of a happy path solution is to demonstrate that a solution exists and is feasible. Basically, it is saying that there is no point sweating details, exceptions, and workarounds until you can demonstrate that you understand and can solve the problem when everything goes right.
This class is going to try and show you the happy path to Perl CGI. It is not an exhaustive Perl class. It is not an exhaustive Unix or Windows class. It is not an exhaustive web architecture class.
It shows exactly one approach to a particular problem, and assumes everything works right and is configured a particular way. It is not exhaustive or rigorous. It does not have proper error handling, is not highly efficient, and not particularly concise. It is not written to impress anybody.
But you will cover ground fast. Once you have been lead down the happy path and understand one particular solution to one particular problem, you are then free to backtrack and explore the side streets at your leisure, and only tackle the tangents that are interesting or necessary for your goals.
Using this approach, we will refer to many things as "magic", and tell you to do them a particular way without much detail as to why. These explanations would be off the happy path. We will give you pointers on where you can find more information, but we won't dwell on them. We will explain lots of things, but lots of other things will remain "magic".
But, in a very short time, you will be doing some remarkable things with Perl CGI on your own system and with your own hardware. You will be able to make significant modifications and accomplish some pretty interesting things. You won't understand everything, but you will understand a lot, and more importantly you will be getting results, which makes the sweating the details much more interesting.