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🙋Introduction
Welcome readers!!!! We have come up with yet another article. Have you ever heard of Web Services, SOAP, REST??? Web services are services available on the internet🌎. It helps two devices💻 or applications communicate over the internet. These web services are of two types: SOAP and REST. The SOAP protocol is based on XML. REST, unlike SOAP, is not a protocol. It is a web architecture.
Before moving on to seeing the difference between SOAP and REST web services, why not have a look at Intro to SOAP API and REST API? Let us begin with understanding the two web services briefly.
SOAP WEB SERVICES
It accesses the web services using a protocol. It uses an XML-based protocol. It is not dependent on the platform. It is also not reliant on the language. SOAP is a protocol that defines how web services should interact. It uses WSDL to find the service.
SOAP API is supportive of stateless✔️ and stateful✔️ operations. Using XML, we encode SOAP messages. SOAP is slow compared to REST. SOAP has a lot of rules which one must remember while designing a SOAP application. This is one of the disadvantages. To know more about SOAP APIs, check out this article.
RESTful WEB SERVICES
Unlike SOAP, REST is a web architecture. It is not a protocol. It defines rules for two web services communicating over the internet. We use HTTP methods in REST web applications.
The core functions✔️ of a REST API are GET, POST, PUT and DELETE. Unlike SOAP, REST only supports stateless services. REST also caches the service results. It works faster than SOAP because it does not have many constraints like SOAP. to know how to create a REST API, check out this article.
Let us move on to the uncommon properties🥊 between SOAP and REST web services.
📃SOAP Web Services vs. RESTful Web Services
S.NO.
SOAP WEB SERVICES
RESTFUL WEB SERVICES
1.
Simple Object Access Protocol
REST means REpresentational State Transfer.
2.
SOAP is a protocol and not an architecture.
REST is a web architecture.
3.
The data format which SOAP uses is XML. SOAP uses no other data format other than XML.
REST, on the other hand, is inclusive of multiple data formats. It uses JSON, XML, HTML, etc.
4.
SOAP web services include a WSDL file containing information about the service's location and function.
RESTful web service doesn't include any such file.
5.
SOAP services have two protocols. They either use HTTP or MQ.
The protocol which the REST services use is HTTP.
6.
In SOAP, the messages are encoded as an XML document.
REST messages are generally in JSON format.
7.
SOAP messages are enormous. The messages possess a lot of information. They consume larger bandwidth to transfer the message.
REST messages consume smaller bandwidth because the messages are comparatively minimal.
8.
For SOAP web services, the API we use is JAX-WS.
JAX-RS is the API that REST web services use.
9.
There are too many standards to keep in mind while using the SOAP protocol.
REST does not have many standards.
10.
Being a protocol, SOAP can not use REST services.
REST web services can use SOAP as a protocol.
We saw the difference between SOAP and REST web services. Now let us see when we can use SOAP and when we can use REST web services.
🤔When to use what?
This is a very subjective question. But there are some points which we must understand before choosing one of them. Let us see some of those:
💡REST web services use less bandwidth to transfer messages. SOAP messages are bulkier than REST messages. So in scenarios where bandwidth is a constraint, one should prefer REST over SOAP.
💡REST web services are good when we do not need to save the state information. REST web services work on stateless communication. But if we want to keep the state information, we should use SOAP services.
💡If there's some agreement between the two services, then it is always better to use SOAP over REST. SOAP also provides features for security.
💡If we need a lot of requests repeatedly, we should use REST. REST provides caching, whereas SOAP doesn't. Caching helps in reducing the number of requests made.
Frequently Asked Questions❓
Is SOAP a web architecture?
No, SOAP is not a web architecture. It is a protocol that is based on XML.
Does SOAP support stateless operations?
Yes, SOAP supports stateless and stateful operations, unlike REST, which only supports stateless operations.
What are the data formats that SOAP and REST support?
The data format which SOAP uses is XML. SOAP uses no other data format other than XML.
REST, on the other hand, is inclusive of multiple data formats. It uses JSON, XML, HTML, etc.
Which between SOAP and REST is easier to code?
REST is comparatively easier to code. There are many standards one must follow while coding SOAP web services. This makes it a little more complex than the REST web services.
Conclusion🔚
Web services are methods by which two applications communicate over the network.
In this article, we learned about SOAP and REST web services. We saw the difference between SOAP and REST web services. We also saw scenarios where we should use SOAP or REST web services.
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