These would obviously have to be downloaded and installed locally on the client to interact with the cgi applications. Sounds according to you that it wouldn't be a good idea to do it in perl ( :-/ ) So the question then becomes...
I know that Java and I believe C#/VB have options through Microsofts .Net framework to do what I'm looking for. But those are commercial solutions which cost money and don't usually come with the brilliant help found at sites like this.