What is a “web service” in plain English?

Question

I\'ve been reading about \"web services\" here on SO, on Wikipedia, Google, etc., and I don\'t quite understand what they are. What is the plain English definition/descript

Answer 1

A web service differs from a web site in that a web service provides information consumable by software rather than humans. As a result, we are usually talking about exposed JSON, XML, or SOAP services.

Web services are a key component in "mashups". Mashups are when information from many websites is automatically aggregated into a new and useful service. For example, there are sites that aggregate Google Maps with information about police reports to give you a graphical representation of crime in your area. Another type of mashup would be to take real stock data provided by another site and combine it with a fake trading application to create a stock-market "game".

Web services are also used to provide news (see RSS), latest items added to a site, information on new products, podcasts, and other great features that make the modern web turn.

Hope this helps!