Applied SOAP: Implementing .NET XML Web Services

XML as a Wire Representation

Whenever you transmit information over a network, that information is ultimately transformed from a binary representation in your computer's memory into another representation that was designed for network use. Perhaps the network representation is a highly efficient binary one, or perhaps its purpose is more general. In any case, you'll probably find that the information's binary format in memory is very different than its network form. The form that it takes for network transmission is called its wire representation. This is the form that the data takes when it's transmitted over the network, no matter what the network medium is.

Wire representations, and protocols in general, are often designed to meet specific ...