Web Service : Introduction

Web Service describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone.

* XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language)  is used to tag the data.
* SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is used to transfer the data.
* WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is used for describing the services available.
* UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) is used for listing what services are available.

Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems behind the firewall

Unlike traditional client/server models, such as a Web server/Web page system, Web services do not provide the user with a GUI. Web services instead share business logic, data and processes through a programmatic interface across a network. The applications interface, not the users. Developers can then add the Web service to a GUI (such as a Web page or an executable program) to offer specific functionality to users.

Web services allow different applications from different sources to communicate with each other without time-consuming custom coding, and because all communication is in XML, Web services are not tied to any one operating system or programming language. For example, Java can talk with Perl, Windows applications can talk with UNIX applications.

Web services do not require the use of browsers or HTML. Web services are sometimes called Application Services.

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