The State of Win32 Perl

Dick Hardt's definitive Win32 port of Perl is now available from http://www.activeware.com/ . This version tracks Perl's core, through version 5.003, adding NT-specific features, such as access to the registry and event-log APIs. It also has two Windows-specific extensions -- ISAPI Perl and PerlScript -- that have evolved independently of the Perl core.

ISAPI Perl is a mode that enables Perl to run in-process on Internet Information Server (IIS), WebSite, Purveyor, and other ISAPI-aware Win32 Web servers. This mode can deliver a big performance boost, although my use of it is currently restricted because ISAPI Perl can't spawn external processes (e.g., search engines).

PerlScript, just now available in beta, is a Win32 Perl that supports the Active Scripting interfaces. That means two things:

* An ActiveX Scripting host can use Perl instead of VBScript or JavaScript. The most notable client that can do this is MSIE, but other Win32 applications, including the Windows shell, will follow. The most notable server is IIS, but here, too, other Win32 apps will follow.

* Perl embedded in an ActiveX Scripting host can wield all the COM componentry available in that environment. MSIE is today the only client that supports this behavior, and IIS the only server, but any Win32 application that adopts ActiveX Scripting can use Perl this way.