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 is a collection of open protocols and standards used for exchanging data between applications or systems. Software applications written in various programming languages and running on various platforms can use web services to exchange data over computer networks like the Internet in a manner similar to inter-process communication on a single computer. This interoperability (e.g., between Java and Python, or Windows and Linux applications) is due to the use of open standards (XML, SOAP, HTTP).

All the standard Web Services works using following components:

• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
• UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration)
• WSDL (Web Services Description Language)

It works somewhat like this:

• The client program bundles the account registration information into a SOAP message.
• This SOAP message is sent to the Web Service as the body of an HTTP POST request.
• The Web Service unpacks the SOAP request and converts it into a command that the application can understand.
• The application processes the information as required and responds with a new unique account number for that customer.
• Next, the Web Service packages up the response into another SOAP message, which it sends back to the client program in response to its HTTP request.
• The client program unpacks the SOAP message to obtain the results of the account registration process.