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Web Service Inroduction

 The Internet is the worldwide connectivity of hundreds of thousands of computers of various types that belong to multiple networks. On the World Wide Web, a web service is a standardized method for propagating messages between client and server applications. A web service is a software module that is intended to carry out a specific set of functions. Web services in cloud computing can be found and invoked over the network.

The web service would be able to deliver functionality to the client that invoked the web service.

A web service is a set of open protocols and standards that allow data to be exchanged between different applications or systems. Web services can be used by software programs written in a variety of programming languages and running on a variety of platforms to exchange data via computer networks such as the Internet in a similar way to inter-process communication on a single computer.

Any software, application, or cloud technology that uses standardized web protocols (HTTP or HTTPS) to connect, interoperate, and exchange data messages – commonly XML (Extensible Markup Language) – across the internet is considered a web service.
Web services have the advantage of allowing programs developed in different languages to connect with one another by exchanging data over a web service between clients and servers. A client invokes a web service by submitting an XML request, which the service responds with an XML response.


In Short:

  • It is a client-server application or application component for communication.
  • The method of communication between two devices over the network.
  • It is a software system for the interoperable machine to machine communication.
  • It is a collection of standards or protocols for exchanging information between two devices or application.


Types of Web Services

There are mainly two types of web services.

  1. SOAP web services.
  2. RESTful web services.

Web Service Features

XML-Based

Web services use XML at data description and data transportation layers. Using XML exclude any networking, operating system, or platform binding. Web services-based operation is extremely interoperable at their core level.

Loosely Coupled

A client of a web service is not fixed to the web service directly. The web service interface can support innovation over time without negotiating the client's ability to communicate with the service. A tightly coupled system means that the client and server logic are closely tied to one another, indicating that if one interface changes, then another must be updated. Accepting a loosely coupled architecture tends to make software systems more manageable and allows more straightforward integration between various systems.

Coarse-Grained

Object-oriented technologies such as Java expose their functions through individual methods. A specific process is too fine an operation to provide any suitable capability at a corporate level. Building a Java program from scratch needed the creation of various fine-grained functions that are then collected into a coarse-grained role that is consumed by either a client or another service.

Businesses and the interfaces that they prove should be coarse-grained. Web services technology implement a natural method of defining coarse-grained services that approach the right amount of business logic.

Ability to be Synchronous or Asynchronous

Synchronicity specifies the binding of the client to the execution of the function. In synchronous invocations, the client blocks and delays in completing its service before continuing. Asynchronous operations grant a client to invoke a task and then execute other functions.

Asynchronous clients fetch their result at a later point in time, while synchronous clients receive their effect when the service has completed. Asynchronous capability is an essential method in enabling loosely coupled systems.

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