SpeedyCGI is a way to run perl scripts persistently, which can make them run
much more quickly. A script can be made to to run persistently by changing the
interpreter line at the top of the script from:

to

After the script is initially run, instead of exiting, the perl interpreter is
kept running. During subsequent runs, this interpreter is used to handle new
executions instead of starting a new perl interpreter each time. A very fast
frontend program, written in C, is executed for each request. This fast
frontend then contacts the persistent Perl process, which is usually already
running, to do the work and return the results.