The power behind a searchable database is one of the most valuable aspects of the internet. We have all seen the benefits of being able to search for a Fed-Ex package, find a convenient flight, locate where a movie is playing, search job, house, or car listings, and more.

What's more, HTML has turned out to be pretty darn easy. Most people can learn the basics in 1 day. If you need to access data, however, you need to use a CGI. All of a sudden, the casual user is expected to know UNIX commands, the Perl programming language, and all of the conventions for importing, parsing, and using web data. To make matters worse, to build a usable database, you need to write a routine for adding data, searching for data, deleting data, and modifying data.