Hit Counter
Why would an experienced programmer be proud of a hit counter? After
all, the only thing this program does is tell you that you are visitor
number 21138. The reason
is that there is no datafile; this program is a variant of a Quine. Each time it
executes, it prints out the number of previous executions, then
overwrites its own sourcecode with a new (slightly modified) version of
itself.
counter1.txt or
counter2.txt (1.2KB)
Download the Perl script. The first version works on systems where CGI
scripts can overwrite themselves without taking special measures. The
second includes an extra 'chmod' step for systems with heavier security.
After the first successful execution, the scripts rewrite themselves
into their
working format.
Last modified: 23 November 2000
