Understanding SOA with Web Services

This is one of the main books I recommend to clients on SOA and Web Services. Several parts of the book that stand out from what I have seen in the rest of the field including the section on Advanced Messaging and Transactions. The work is particularly strong in the "why are we here and how did we get here" with regard to web service evolving from various technologies like MQ, Tx systems, and mainframes, and describes where Web services has advantages and disadvantages over those technologies in a non-religious format. In Chapter 3, for example, MQ, CORBA, and XML web Services are compared across a set of criteria including: service contracts, data management, registration and discovery, security, interaction patterns, communication, and QoS. These objective analyses are some of the most valuable resources in the book, because when looking at Web Services' integration it helps the architect see where the strengthes and weaknesses lie. The only nit is section on security is good by normal programming books standards, but more emphasis on the gaps in the standards would be useful, for example input validation, and security exceptions which are a fact of life in distributed security, but are not dealt with by standards are not covered. This book describes what gaps SOA/Web Services address and why, where the technology is going, and what you can do about it today. Very valuable.

This book is really good at distilling the web services standards down to the core essentials - what are the most important things to know and more importantly, where the specifications still have room for improvement. So if you would prefer to save yourself a lot of time wading through specs in order to be able to hold your own in front of the whiteboard (or keyboard) there is no better book than this. What I like most about Eric's books is they are always written in a very honest and straightforward manner and they are obviously informed by years of real world experience - in other words basically the opposite of a David Linthicum book.

Firstly this book is an excellent compliment to Eric's other book: Understanding Web Services. Definitely worth reading that one as well (it doesn't really make a difference which order). This book is a great introduction to the differences between SOA and Web Services. Too many other books tie these two concepts together as though SOA didn't exist before Web Services. SOA had been around for a long time prior to Web Services, which is simply one way of doing SOA. In this book you don't really get into the meat of Web services until page 100, which is the way it should be: the authors lay the groundwork for a concrete realisation of SOA by going into detail about what SOA is, how it's important and how to plan for it within an organisation. I found the book a very easy read, which is important for this subject: the architectural principles behind this stuff aren't rocket science, but too often other texts dive straight into specifications/standards and blind you with Three Letter Acornyms. The authors of this book build up the book in a way which flows naturally and each chapter delivers on technical and business-oriented rationals. Summary: if you're looking for a good text on what SOA is, what it means to you as an architect or as a business, and how Web Services may fit into that picture, then don't hesitate to get this book.

This book is worth buying even if you stop reading it after the first few chapters. These provide not only technical advice but, even more useful, guides and templates for getting started with SOA: fine grained, coarse grained, consumer has to know details of the service he's calling, J2EE, .NET, LAMP, CORBA, whatever. All are covered at a level which makes sense in the concept of Service-oriented Architecture and design. If you're into the nitty gritty of SOA and Web Services, then the book is also a must as it provides the reader with a wonderful insight into how, from the high level of SOA one gets down to the actual XML on the wire. I have taken to "stealing" bits from the book --suitably attributed and with the permission of the authors, of course!-- as I have not found anything near as good and am unable to come up with something as complete and overarching myself. My congratulations to the authors on an absolutely great book!

The authors explain the principles and benefits of a SOA and how web services help realize these. The writing style is clear and lucid - even some of the more technical concepts are easy to grasp. I especially liked the chapters in Part II - Extended Web Service Specifications, since there is very little out there (not counting the specs themselves) that not only explain the essence of these standards but also give a practical perspective. All in all a great book! Nick