One of the problems with cgi programs on the web has been the
need for them to output all of the html tags required to build the pages
along with the data. A program which is accessing a database, for example
to produce a list of customers, would not only have to walk the table of
customers details and output them, it would also have to output all of
the html tags, javascript code, etc to build up the page.
This means that any changes to the layout of the web page have to be
made by a programmer, and web page design tools (Frontpage, homepage, etc)
cannot be used to structure the page.
What the parser does.
The parser is an attempt to break the html page source away from the
cgi code. This makes the cgi programmer responsible for obtaining the variable
data, and a web page designer responsible for building the web page which
will contain that data.
Both the programmer and designer will therefore be free to concentrate
on using their skills to the fullmost.