What's A Web Service? Web services are not just RPCs with SOAP.

A web service is a service with an explicit contract: a set of local "laws" or at least promises.

A web service is
• a possibly remote procedure with an
• invocation that is described in a standard (preferably XML-based) machine readable syntax
• reachable via standard Internet protocols
• with a description, including at a minimum the allowed input and output messages, as well as
• a possible semantic annotation of the service function and data meaning[5].

[5]Heiko L, Petrie C (2006) Session summary on cross-cutting concerns, Dagstuhl seminar on service-oriented computing (SOC), Proceedings 05462. http://tinyurl.com/webservdef

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©2012 Charles Petrie - permission to reproduce widely with attribution.