Web Services

  Melvin       January 29, 2020

WebService (WS) is a technology, process, and software paradigm that provides support for business integrations mainly over an Internet-based environment.

A Web Service must involve a Web-based protocol, such as HTTP or SimpleMail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Other transport protocols may be used, but HTTP is the most common one being used. HTTPS uses Secure Socket Layer(SSL) or Transport SecureLayer (TLS) for the secured transport of data. In regard to software development concerns, the difference between HTTP and HTTPS is trivial.

A Web Service is a software application that requires interaction with another application. WS is a software integration technique for a B2B type of integration. One application acts as a service provider(server) and the others act as service consumers(clients). This is a many-to-one relationship.

WebServices provide many benefits:

1. Platform - independent:
WebServices are now available in nearly all platforms

Hardware:
mainframe, midrange, personal and mobile devices

Operating systems:
UNIX, Windows, MainframeOS, Android, and  iPhones

2. Reuse of existing networking infrastructure:
HTTP, SMTP

3. Loose - coupling of software components promotes software reuse

4. Reduced integration cost and increased integration speed

5. Open architecture and communication protocols

Web Services technology used in Web Services:

HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol

XML - Extensible Markup Language

WSDL - Web Services Description Language

SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol

REST - Representational State Transfer

We have 2 different types of Web Services:

Web Services 1.0: SOAP Web Services

- Using the SOAP ( Simple Object Access Protocol) protocol.
- "Complex"

Web Services 2.0: REST Web Services

- Lightweight and Flexible
- A new and simpler version of WS
- Using the REST (Representational State Transfer) protocol.
- Uses standard HTTP methods ( GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and uses JSON or
XML for transport or store data.
- All major WS on the Internet today using REST.