What Is Fast Common Gateway Interface (FastCGI)?

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FastCGI is a protocol that helps external applications communicate with web servers. It is an improved version of CGI, Common Gateway Interface. CGI is a standard protocol that enables web servers to run external applications. FastCGI is better than CGI because it is faster, more open, and easier to maintain. The main problem with CGI is that it needs to be faster. Whenever a user requests a web page, the web server has to start a new process to run the external application. This process takes time and resources. FastCGI solves this problem by keeping the external application running in the background. When a user requests a web page, the web server sends the request to the external application. It is much faster than starting a new process every time. FastCGI is also more open than CGI. CGI only supports a limited set of programming languages, such as Perl and C. FastCGI supports many more programming languages, including Python, Ruby, and PHP, which makes it easier for developers to write external applications in the language of their choice. Another advantage of FastCGI is that it is easier to maintain than other proprietary server application programming interfaces (APIs). Many APIs are specific to a particular web server or operating system. It makes it difficult to switch web servers or operating systems. FastCGI is designed to be portable across different web servers and operating systems. It means developers can write external applications that can be run on any web server supporting FastCGI. Despite its advantages, FastCGI has yet to be widely used. It is because it is still a proposed open standard. All web servers and operating systems still need to adopt it. However, many popular web servers, such as Apache and Nginx, support FastCGI. As more web servers and operating systems adopt FastCGI, it will likely become more widely used. In summary, the FastCGI protocol allows external applications to communicate with web servers. It is an improved version of the existing standard CGI. FastCGI is faster, more open, and easier to maintain than CGI and other proprietary server application programming interfaces (APIs). While it is not yet widely used, FastCGI is supported by many popular web servers and will likely become more widely used.

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