Like writing C in a simple console-based editor and compiling it with cc on the command line, writing raw CGI scripts like this is a great way to start and lear

Like writing C in a simple console-based editor and compiling it with cc on the command line, writing raw CGI scripts like this is a great way to start and learn underlying principles. You can build some simple, even useful things and understand every bit of what is happening. It doesn't scale to what we do on the web today, of course. It's a good place to start. Not a good place to stay.