Re: Web service question...

That's a reasonable description, but of course the devil is in the details. First, a lot of RESTful services don't rely on the HTTP verb. They all use GET (some use POST) and then leave it up to the service to determine what to do. This is often the case when you simply expose business logic as RESTful services; the HTTP interface is always the same, the service interprets and executes the request. That makes it a little easier to program the JavaScript on the browser; it doesn't have to worry about different verbs. Second, XML is no longer the only or in some cases even the dominant format for the message. JSON is used more and more for both sides of the transaction, especially in Rich UI applications where both the client and server are written by the same development organization.

Joe

The way I've always described it...

1) In REST, the URI describes a "thing" to be acted upon. (Ex: An
invoice, PO, zip code, whatever)

2) In REST, the HTTP method is the "verb" telling it what to do.
(Retrieve, Update, Delete, Insert, etc)

3) In SOAP, the URI describes an 'endpoint' which generally refers to
some piece of software rather than a thing to act upon. A second URI,
called Soap Action describes what that software should do. A set of
input parameters defined in an XML message describe what data to act upon.

4) In both cases, an XML message is returned, either as the output of
the web service, or describing the effect of calling the web service.


On 7/20/2011 4:51 AM, Larry Ducie wrote:

REST is a concept - it is the idea that the client has a picture (or
representation) of a "thing" in a certain well defined and valid
"state". The "thing" exists on the remote server. Changes to the
state of the "thing" from one valid state to another valid state is
performed via a call to a web service. A RESTful architecture will
provide a set of services that allow the client to describe the
current state (customer details, order details, invoice details) and
to also change the current state (start order, add item, pay bill).