Donald F. Ferguson

Web services is the latest trend in distributed computing. Based on sending XML messages that are transported over the HTTP protocol, the initial work has created a distributed computing model that is simple, easy, and lightweight. Most importantly, it works over the Internet. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) has brought interoperability between disparate systems over the Internet, providing distributed computing based on open Web standards. This complements existing approaches to interoperability, for example CORBA or messaging standards. Web Services Description Language (WSDL) provides a framework for describing Web services based on XML and XML Schema. WSDL allows different systems and tools to understand and communicate with services provided by other technologies and organizations. Two discovery technologies allow Web services to be discovered on the Inter... (more)