* Avoids proof-of-concept examples in favor of teaching readers how to produce well-coded secure CGI applications that will stand up to the demands of being placed into the potentially hostile environment of the Internet.

* Takes a holistic approach to web application development and includes instruction on how to use ancillary programs such as Mason and Nagios that the reader will need to be familiar with in order to progress.

* The book's comprehensive scope tackles all the areas of Perl web application development the reader is likely to need in creating their first web applications.