Web Services are self-describing, modular applications. The Web Services architecture can be thought of as a wrapper for the application code. This wrapper provides standardized means of: describing the Web Service and what it does; publishing it to a registry, so that it can easily be located; and exposing an interface, so that the service can be invoked - all in a machine-readable format. What is particularly compelling about Web Services is that they can be accessed by any client that understands XML, regardless of the platform, language, or object model.
This book provides a snapshot of the current state of these rapidly evolving technologies, beginning by detailing the main protocols that underpin the Web Services model (SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI), and then putting this theory to practical use in a wide array of popular toolkits, platforms, and development environments.
The technologies presented in this book provide the foundations of Web Services computing, which is set to revolutionize Distributed Computing, as we know it.
This book covers:
The architecture of Web Services - past, present, and future
Detailed explanation of SOAP 1.1
An overview of SOAP 1.2
IBM Web Services Toolkit and Microsoft SOAP toolkit 2.0
Other SOAP implementations in Perl, C++, and PHP
Java Web Services with Apache SOAP
WSDL 1.1, UDDI 1.0, and 2.0
Creating and deploying Web Services using .Net
Building Web Services using Python
Applying security at both transport and application levels
Whatever your favorite programming language,
Professional XML Web Services does a good job at explaining recent technologies and tools needed to understand and use Web services. Whether you are a developer or an IT manager, this book's wide-ranging perspective on some late-breaking standards and tools will help you design and code the next generation of Web applications.
The strong cross-language perspective is what distinguishes this title from the rest of the pack. The book surveys actual tools for developing Web services in C++, Java, Perl, Python, and Microsoft's new C# language (part of .NET). Short chapters survey what's out there for Web services developers, with options from IBM, Sun, HP, and Microsoft. If you are somehow convinced that one vendor has a head start with Web services, you'll think again after reading this volume.
The heart of this text is its thorough and approachable tour of core standards needed for Web services, from the innards of SOAP for sending messages between systems over HTTP or other protocols, to WSDL for describing Web services and UDDI for looking them up at run-time. The book does a good job at fixing a very fast moving target. (SOAP 1.1 is used here instead of the emerging 1.2 standard.) Besides the new .NET (and ADO.NET) on the Microsoft platform, there's also coverage of the older SOAP Toolkit 2.0. Sections on using Perl and Python will help bring fans of these popular Web development languages onboard with Web services.
The authors conclude with two larger case studies, an interesting remote file system exposed through Web services using Java, plus an auction database done in the new C#. Anchoring the discussion in what are sure to be the two most popular choices for Web services development helps ensure this text has a practical focus, too. With its range of coverage of what Web services are and the actual standards and tools used to implement them, this title is a perfect choice for learning what all the fuss is about. It's all anyone needs to start designing and coding with Web services using many of today's most popular programming languages and tools. --Richard Dragan
