--------------- PTM DESCRIPTION --------------- PTM is a Perl/HTML hybrid, that uses inline, HTML-style tags to implement Perl within your dynamic web development file tree. It acts as a developers' front-end for commonly used Perl interfaces such as the CGI and DBI modules, while allowing you to drop your Perl code in right where you need it. PTM effectively streamlines development time by wrapping HTML form data, cookies, and database functionality into neat, predefined functions and variables. Additionally, it provides functionality that would, otherwise, take a lot of time to implement even for a single use; such as encoded ID cookie-based sessions and a well rounded set of wrapper functions that can currently be used on nearly every major database type on the market, including MySQL, MS SQL, mSQL (Mini SQL), Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and ADO, just to name a few. And those aren't different functions; the SAME functions can be used across all database types, so there aren't an infinite number of new functions and syntaxes to learn every time you switch databases. Most importantly, PTM is entirely written in Perl -- the very language it was written to implement. This has a variety of advantages, but primarily there are three (3) that prominently stand out. First, the ONLY requirements to run PTM are that you are on an Apache host server that has Perl/CGI support installed. Considering over 70% of the world's web servers run Apache, and almost all of them have Perl installed (SIGNIFICANTLY more than PHP or ASP), that's a great requirement set. Secondly, your host doesn't even need to support PTM for you to get started with it right away! Unlike alternatives such as PHP or ASP, your host doesn't even need to install PTM for you to use it. You can fully emulate server support simply by dropping the PPA (PTM Parser Application) into your cgi-bin and the prewritten .htaccess file in your root web accessible directory and your ready to go. This is also great if your host is running an older version of PTM, and you'd like to upgrade to a new one -- particularly if they aren't keeping their software up to date. Third, because PTM is written in Perl, and implements Perl, odds are that your average PTM developer can go so far as to modify PTM itself. Unlike many other languages, PTM doesn't restrict the developer to it's predefined list of functions and global variables. Users can write and reuse their own plugin modules, and, for the particularly crafty Perl programmers, even modify the language itself to fit their needs.