Re: Web Services War Stories

What do you think of WSDL and SOAP and associated frameworks?

After having lived in the space extensively for the past decade I can tell
you that most of the WSDL/SOAP stuff is a waste of time. Classic over
architecting in my book given how much of the spec is actually used.
That's not to say there aren't some good ideas in the technologies, but
they purposely didn't try to make they syntax easy to understand because
they assumed tools would abound and hide all of the technology.

At the end of the day my favorite types of web services are as simple as an
inbound HTTP POST with concise XML and then the same concise XML for the
response.

For example, a web service need be no more complex than this for the
majority of interactions.

<xml>
<p1>data</p1>
<p2>data</p2>
<parent>
<list>data</list>
<list>data</list>
<list>data</list>
</parent>
</xml>

Sure it needs to get more complex when talking about sending a full
purchase order, but many take it to crazy amounts of parent child
relationships in an effort to be organized.

I should probably get off my soap box before I get into a discussion that
ruins my weekend :-)

Aaron Bartell
www.MowYourLawn.com/blog
www.OpenRPGUI.com
www.SoftwareSavesLives.com



On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Friday late afternoon is probably not the best time to start a discussion
like this. But some of my thoughts are extensions of the XMLSERVICE
discussion that has been going strong on the RPG list this week. This
discussion is for Web Service producers and consumers.

One problem I'd like to address is the cost and complexity of
"recommended" Web Services architectures based on WSDL and SOAP. If you go
to study the WSDL & SOAP interface specifications there's a good chance
that you'll be asked to first get a good understanding on XML, XML Name
Spaces, XML Schema Definitions, & XML Paths as prerequisites. Then WSDL.
Then SOAP. Then how they all come together in Web Services architecture.

I guess it's not a requirement to study the underlying interfaces and
specifications. You could just license the appropriate middleware,
frameworks, toolkits, and runtime environments from Microsoft and IBM. I
haven't done that.

Web services appear to be the vehicle du jour for getting otherwise
disparate systems to inter-operate. I'm facing a problem right now
concerning that, which I'd like to share if this discussion catches on. But
first I'd like to ask if you have general thoughts or opinions or stories
or travails about integrating disparate systems through Web Services? What
do you think of WSDL and SOAP and associated frameworks?

-Nathan

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