Vs a Web-Based Service
A web-based service is for humans.
The human clicks on a URL and gets a web page
(which is a service in itself, like this one.)
The human has no idea what the page will look like, without already having seen it.
Strings are entered.
The human clicks on "GO".
The process repeats until completion.
Web services have explicit descriptions so that programs can play too.
The description gives a programmer some idea of what to expect prior to service execution.
Scripts
are a simple alternative for programming
provided the programmer has already seen the web page recently.
Web services are (should be) more flexible.
With web services, we should have SOA.
©2012
Charles Petrie
- permission to reproduce widely with attribution.
