What is a Web Service?
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Frances Rhea
Definition of a Web Service
A Web service is the term used to describe a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications. This is done using XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI over an Internet protocol backbone.
Language of Web Service
Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of the other IT systems. This is accomplished with XML to tag the data, SOAP to transfer the data, WSDL for describing the services, and UDDI for listing what services are available.
Difference between a Web Server and a Web Service
A Web service does not provide the user with a graphical user interface like traditional client/server models such as a Web server system. Instead, a Web service shares business logic, data, and processes through a program interface across a network. Developers add the Web service to a Web page or an executable program to offer specific functions to users.
A Web service allows different applications from different sources to communicate with each other without custom coding. A Web service is not tied to any one operating system or programming language because all communication is in XML.
A Web service does not require the use of browsers or HTML and is sometimes called an application service.
Definition of Web Service Languages
The Application Software is a program or group of programs designed for end users. Software is divided into two general classes: system software and application software. System software is low-level programs that interact with the computer at the basic level. These are operating systems, compilers, and utilities for managing computer resources.
Application software is also called end-user programs. These include database programs, word processors, and spreadsheets. Basically, application software resides on top of system software since it cannot run without an operating system or system utilities.
XML is short for Extensible Markup Language. This is a specification developed by the W3C. XML is a version of SGML which was designed for Web documents. Designers can create their own customized tags which enables the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and organizations.
SOAP is short for Simple Object Access Protocol. This is a XML-based messaging protocol that is used to encode information for a Web service request and the response messages before they are sent over a network. SOAP messages are independent of any operating system or protocol and may be transported using SMTP, MIME, and HTTP.
WSDL is short for Web Services Description Language. This is an XML-formatted language used to describe a Web service's capabilities. WSDL is an integral part of UDDI, a worldwide business registry. UDDI uses the WSDL language. WSDL was jointly developed by Microsoft and IBM.
UDDI is short for Universal Description, Discovery and Integration. This is a Web-based distributed directory that enables businesses to list themselves on the Internet and discover each other. This is similar to a traditional phone book's yellow and white page listings.
