Help with Perl & HTTP

[Peter]

I am an embedded systems person with no experience on a PC except running
VB4/6 and generally using it for email, word processing, CRM, etc. I have
been asked to provide facilities for:
"The sending server will implement a Java Servlet to map the XML output
stream onto HTTP port 80 or port 443 for HTTPS. Customer (me)will implement
(a TBD) method on their web server to map the input XML stream.

The sending server(SS) shall send either one message or a packet of several
messages during a single HTTP connection. Customer will send a response
message to indicate that a complete message was received. If the SS does not
receive a positive indication, the SS will re-send the message until there
is a successful transmission.

The HTTP/XML interface will use the standard HTTP/1.1 web protocol and XML
content to send and receive data. For XML responses, the appropriate HTTP
status code and appropriate XML entity body are required. "

I am told that Perl is the language of choice. I have started reading a book
on XML and will followup on a Perl book. Is there a publication that
integrates Perl, XML and HTTPS that someone can recommend? How hard is it to
set up what I have 'very briefly' described?

Thanks

Peter