Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Unleashed

Service Fundamentals

A service defines a contract between a calling client and the service itself. In English, this contract states something like this: “If you send me data in this format, I will process it and return you the results in this other format.” The format of this data and the communication parameters of these calls are all based on open standards such as XML and SOAP. Similar standards enable a client to often “discover” a web service and its contract and then work with it. These service standards apply across technology boundaries and therefore make services attractive for exchanging data between heterogeneous environments.

To help frame the benefits of services, it can be helpful to think of them within the context of the problems ...