What are web services and web Services standards?

Definition:

• Web Service is a self-contained, modular application built on standard internet and XML technologies, described and published to the network for use by other programs
• Web Service are used to implement Service Oriented Architecture

Web Services:

• Web Services can be components of Web Applications 
• Can communicate using open protocols
• Are self-contained and self-describing 
• Are published, found and used through the Web (UDDI – Universal Description, Discovery and Integration)
• XML is the basis for Web Services 
• Web Services platform is a simple & interoperable

Goal of Web Service:

• Web services is to make functional building blocks
• Accessible over standard Internet protocols
• Independent from platforms and programming languages.
• These services can be new applications or just wrapped around existing legacy systems to make them network-enabled.

Web Services Standards:

• XML       : To tag the data in a structured format 
• SOAP     : Is a protocol to transfer the data
• WSDL    : Is used to describe the services available 
• UDDI      : Is used for listing what services available