CGI scripts --- programs (shell,perl,programming languages) to
Generate data (usually in HTML format) to be returned to the server
(which will then be transferred to the requesting client in HTTP protocol);
the resultant data are dynamically generated on the fly; pipes are used to feed the output (via STDOUT) to server; server performance is only determined by CPU processing)
CGI is Interface for running external programs on a Web server
Web server is configured to realize that any request for a file in a specific directory or with a specific filename extension are to be executed instead of served
Allows Web servers to create dynamic documents which only get created when they are requested by a browser
