Common Gateway Interface

Definition

"CGI is a protocol for the interfacing of a web server to a web client. It allows the web client to submit requests to the server, and for the server to composite a page and send it back to the client. CGI was popular during the early development of the World Wide Web for creating dynamic content. Today other systems are beginning to take over, such as ASP or PHP. CGI-enabled pages usually have the extension '.cgi'. Perl scripts also use CGI, and can be identified by the extension '.pl'." (http://www.internetrights.org.uk/glossary.shtml)