Web Services Overview (Part Two): SOAP Development
Introduction
In Part 1 of my web services overview, I described a variety of RPC mechanisms that can be used to build powerful distributed applications. These mechanisms include "traditional" technologies such as CORBA and DCOM as well as newer XML/HTTP–based technologies such as XML-RPC and SOAP. Part 2 of this feature delves into SOAP a bit deeper, introducing APIs for Java and Visual Basic developers that can be used to develop web services today. Finally, I'll conclude by discussing how your web service can be "published" for other developers (and applications) to determine what interfaces your service provides.