Hi Folks, I need to put together a business case for using SOAP. I would like to collectively come up with a list of advantages to using SOAP.
Advantages: 1. Easy editing and debugging: SOAP messages are XML documents. They can be created and edited using a simple text editor. Consequently, they are easier to read and debug than binary protocols. 2. XML family of tools available: Since a SOAP document is an XML document you have all the XML tools available for processing the SOAP document, e.g., XSLT for transforming. 3. Separation of concerns: SOAP is independent of how it is to be transported. Thus, SOAP can be transported using HTTP, SMTP, etc. 4. Language/platform independent: SOAP (XML) is language and platform neutral. Consequently, it is usable in a variety of environments. 5. What else? I read this in a book recently: "Saying that SOAP replaces CORBA or DCOM is an oversimplification. SOAP is missing most of the features that developers expect form a robust distributed object protocol, such as grabage collection or object pooling." Question: If SOAP does not replace CORBA/DCOM/RMI then what is SOAP's role? /Roger
