Web Services

Web services are used to collectively delineate a standardized manner of integrating various web-based applications that use UDDI, WSDL, SOAP and XML over the backbone of an Internet protocol. Web services hold different meanings for different people. But finally there will be a given set of standards that allow people to do those things which could not be done before. Various people and various companies approach web services from different angles with varied expectations. Between 2001 and 2002 web services was the buzzword and it was repeatedly used and considered to be the latest evolving technology. Web services are major Internet services.

Basic Themes of Web Services

Some of the general themes of web services are:

• A basic focus on inter-enterprise and enterprise wide operations.
• Using different standards like HTTP and XML as building blocks from the web architecture.
• Using the web as a place where interactions are the most important model than being a space for static information.

Technologies of Web Services

Web services can make their resources available in a commonly accessible manner because they stick to certain communication standards which are:

• A web service makes a public description of its own functions by means of a WSDL file.
• A web service and other applications communicate through XML messages.
• A web service utilizes standard network protocols like HTTP.

Some Features of Web Services:

• Web services use standard protocols like XML which can be used up by a variety of users. Therefore they are reusable.
• They are flexible, accommodating various content and data.
• Web services are completely standard-based.