Web development is one of the growth areas of programming. The creators of eCommerce and small hobby sites use many of the same tools and techniques. Development languages become fashionable, widely popular, then fade away to be replaced by the next big thing. Some languages have such power and suitability that they deserve to be taken seriously and used widely rather than discarded when the next alternative comes along. Chris Bates presents the programming language Perl which is widely used on Web sites which create and present dynamic content. In particular he focuses on those features of Perl which make it so well suited for Web development and worth considering for both experienced programmers and beginners alike.

Half a century of programming and a spark of light

In this issue John Barnes continues with a summary of a few programming languages that he has had the pleasure or misfortune to use and generally concludes that their design has been a series of missed opportunities. The paper concludes, however, with a glimmer of hope that, in one small corner of England, something good is emerging.

Is a fiber glut on the horizon?

While it is nice to read about the need for bandwidth, if we put pen or pencil to paper can we come to the same conclusion as pundits who proclaimed during the past year that the Internet would clog itself into a world-wide freeze? Gilbert Held ponders the question.