Are all web services automagically restful web services?

Question

Are all web services through HTTP and not SOAP automagically restful web services?

I have been hearing the term \"Restful web services\" everywhere.. but ain\'t it s

Answer 1

There are at least two types of web services around:

• SOAP web services - using XML Schema to strictly define XML messages, typically, but not necessarily using HTTP as a transport protocol. Reliable and standardized, they've been around for quite some time, although sometimes considered heavyweight.

• RESTful web services - less rigid, using plain HTTP protocol, taking advantage of built-in GET/POST/PUT/DELETE methods to perform CRUD operation on resources. Content negotiation (typically XML or JSON), redirects (Location header) and user-friendly URLs make RESTful web serives getting more attention.

These are two different communication protocols, you can migrate one into another, but no automatic conversion ever happens.