11.1. Web Services Defined
There are many definitions of Web Services floating around. Here's one from HP's middleware organization: “Web Services are self-contained, modular business applications that have open, Internet-oriented, standards-based interfaces.”
Definitions from other sources frequently get more specific, mentioning for example the use of XML in Web Services. I like HP's definition because it focuses more on what a Web Service is, rather than how it's implemented. When it comes to the implementation, there are many things that are frequently true of Web Services. They frequently use HTTP as the transport, although other standard protocols such as Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) are also allowed. They frequently use servlets ...
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