Garrett Goebel
Tue, 26 Jun 2001 06:26:56 -0700
Michael,
From: Michael A. Morgan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>
> Thank you for answering my letter.
No problem.
I'm going to take your comments below as permission to repost this to the list. I hope you don't mind. IMHO, this is the kind of info that needs to be shared. I.e., a first hand account from someone who would potentially be interested in such meetings.
> I don't have much programming experience but I'd like to learn
> more about a few of the topics mentioned earlier. Would you
> please explain a Network Auditing tool.
A program you could run that would:
o examine devices on your network
o gather data from these devices
o persistently store data
o present data in human digestible form (reports)
o compare historical data against current data
Data would mean inventorying hardware, software, and configuration info. For instance, I once wrote a tool that would identify all Win32 computers, servers (whether they were standalone, backup-domain-controllers, or primary-domain-controllers, and all Groups and User related security information on those computers.
> I know what datactructures are but I need help with refs
> (referers?) and anonymous micro payments.
By refs, I mean references. In perl, a scalar variable can hold a string of characters, a number, or a reference. Usually a reference is simply a number that represents the memory address where another piece of data resides. In Perl, references are also tagged with a type. A scalar reference in Perl can refer to the follow types of things:
o scalar
o array
o hash
o subroutine
o filehandle
o format
o regular expression
o glob
o lvalue
o reference
o object
If you can get to a command prompt or shell and type:
perldoc perlref
You will find yourself reading the "Perl references and nested data structures" manual page. Probably the best detailed source for information on the topic.
By anonymous micropayments... I am meaning a cost effective means of making very small payments over the internet. Presumably with the ability to protect the anonymity of the person making the payment. This is by no means a beginner topic, but would be an interesting one. The hope would be to isolate a beginner topic and present it in the context of anonymous micropayments.
> Web Template Model-View-Controller with emphasis on CGI.pm?
Model-View-Controller is a software engineering practice that focuses on separating the presentation (GUI) of a thing from the underlying model/implementation. In the context of web templates, this could refer to separating the informational content from the html which is used to present and interact with it. (see http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/users/smarch/st-docs/mvc.html) for a more detailed introduction)
Imagine that you have all the data which you need to display written down just once, but that you can generate as needed the html required to best present it for Netscape, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, or a text-only browser.
CGI.pm is a Perl module created by Lincoln Stein. CGI.pm provides boilerplate code for working with forms, file uploads, cookies, cascading style sheets, server push, frames, etc. (see http://search.cpan.org/doc/LDS/CGI.pm-3.02/CGI.pm)
> Right now, I'm more interested in a Web<->database shopping cart
> using DBI. My Web site is provided with a MySQL database I'd
> like to access with Perl. Basically, like a lot of other people,
> I have a Web site and would like to know how to enhance it's
> capabilities with Perl. I think a presentation on how to receive
> data from a form would be enough to get people started.
Sounds like you'd be interested in coverage of CGI.pm and DBI.pm in the context of a web shopping cart.
> Sorry I didn't Post to the list. I thought I was when I replied
> to your e-mail. I guess this is the first thing I need to learn.
>
>
> I went to all of the first meetings and meet a lot of fine folks
> but I was too ignorant to participate or contribute anything of
> value so I just sort of drifted away and started studying VBScript.
I was afraid to show up at KC Mongers before I felt relatively confident that while I may not be an expert, I'd at least earned my spurs.
I think this barrier which novices experience, is the very issue which current discussion is focus on alleviating. Whether the barrier is self-imposed as it was in my case, or the impression that KC Mongers needs to do more to cater to the needs of novices... It is something we need to work on. And for god's sake, if we've driven someone _to_ VBScript then it is an evil evil thing which needs to be fixed ;)
Myself, I enjoy the nitty gritty advanced talks and topics like the recent ones given by David Nicol and Paul Kulchenko. When I find myself having a hard time following, those are usually the greatest opportunities to learn. However, I can easily imagine someone getting totally lost. I have precious little opportunity to fraternize with other Perl wonks. So I really enjoy those opportunities to talk with others who have more knowledge and Perl smarts.
So I hope what we are talking about here is potentially having more than one meeting a month? One track of meetings focused on beginners, and another on intermediate to advanced topics. I would sorely miss it if the intermediate to advanced topics were to disappear.
Whatever is decided, I'd be willing to help with one or two beginner level presentations in the next 12 months. I'm not a perl web expert by any means, but I'd welcome the chance to hone my fundamentals to the point where I'd feel comfortable covering them in a presentation.
Garrett