> [SJ] An interface defines the FUNCTION as well as the data. Data > exchange is only one small part of a service definition. Some > functions never exchange any data for instance. I might be very > thick, but when I define a service interface I think in terms of the > capabilities that it provides, these don't often get reduced to just > resources and data.
In SOAP/WSDL you have the mechanisms to define the interface to any functions you desire. Your architecture can be a hodge-podge. In HTTP you *should* use the pre-defined methods to transfer data here and there. Your architecture can be a hodge-podge, but at least not because you have a zillion and two interfaces. Think of the HTTP "functions" along the same lines as the Linda/Javaspaces "functions". There are just a very small number of them, and all they do is move things from here to there in a small number of ways. With these two architectures, you have to understand the best ways to use them. With SOAP/WSDL, you have to understand how to define an interface. But then you also have to understand what your architectural choices are, and how to implement that. HTTP takes a good bit of that burden off of you. > [SJ] But is REST that much better than WSDL? I'm not seeing it SOAP/WSDL is not an architecture. It is an interface definition language with which you can define all kinds of architectures. Just choosing WSDL doesn't solve the architecture question. REST is an architecture "pattern" if you will. HTTP is an incarnation of REST. I don't see any way to compare HTTP and SOAP/WSDL. I think you have to compare HTTP in whole or in part to some other architecture that you may base in whole or in part on SOAP/WSDL. What is that other architecture for you? -Patrick ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. Check out the enhanced email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/NhFolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/service-orientated-architecture/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
