Web Services Essentials: Distributed Applications with XML-Rpc, Soap, UDDI & Wsdl

This book is really an excellent one for programmers who want to start with web services. It gives a compact overview of XML-RPC, SOAP, UDDI and WSDL. Especially Java programmers will find some good code listings. But don't expect more than an introduction to web services.

When it comes to computer books, we have all seen it before: a couple of books with a catchy title are successes, the publisher then wants to continue leverage thename recognition and comes out with other books that have the same word in the title. Even those friendly folks at O'Reilly Publishing seem to be guilty of this problem; exactly how large does a book have to get before it is no longer a 'nutshell'? "Web Services Essentials" might sounds like just such a title. At a not very thick 278 pages I wondered how much territory this book would cover. Would it be too high level or detailed but not cover the territory. As a long time Java developer, reader of the industry press and president of the Utah Java Users Group I have seen my share of overviews and introductions. I am pleased to report that theWeb Services Essentials lives up to it title. It is an impressively compact overview of the essentials of Web Services, but including the enough detail down to working code.I have seen lots of computer books including many from O'Reilly, but I rarely find one that is such a clean straight forward introduction to the material as Web Services Essentials. I was pleasantly surpised and found it to be just the book I needed to get to the level of working examples of Web Services using Java. This book lived up to it title, serving well it role as small book containing just the essentials including working code and complete examples of the various XML documents and Java APIs involved in the world of Web Services.

"Web Services Essentials" provides an excellent, concise overview of the complicated world of web services, and makes sense of the alphabet-soup jargon of SOAP, XML-RPC, UDDI and WSDL (as well as more obscure protocols). With web services appearing to be the "next big thing" in web development, this book is a must-read for any developer looking to introduce him/herself to the technology, as well as for the technically-minded manager who may soon be responsible for implementing web services. Clear writing and relevant examples make this an enjoyable as well as an informative read.

I'm in the process of reading this book right now, and so far I like it. The book provides a good introduction to Web Services, and Apache software, on which all the examples in the book are based, is actually very easy to set up.This book opens your eyes to the world of web services, and I must say it does so very well. All the information in the book is probably available online for free, but who has the time to look it all up?

Webservices is relatively new technology,but there is unusual hype around everyprotocol associated with webservices,say XML-RPC,SOAP,UDDI,WSDL.Ethan Cermani,author of the book writes lucidly about every aspect of these technologies.His approach to this book is so planned;he got text book style of writing ie sentences are pithy -filled with meaning,no nonsense explanations,no unnecessary elaborations,to the pointalmost clinically precise."A webservice is anyservice that is available over the Internet,uses a standardized XML messaging system,and is not tied to anyprogrmming language or operating system." also "A webservice is self describing via common XML grammar,and discoverable via a simple find method".author summarises whole scenario inhandful of words!!He divided the whole book into 9 chapters,introducing XML-RPCSOAP,WSDL,UDDI and other W3C issues,evolving security standardsin the first chapter giving panoramic over view of webservices.In remaining 8 chapters he delved deep into all the topics he introduced.He dedicated 3 chapters for SOAP Essentials which is needed,Which is Standardized XML message system to be used in Webservices.Before this there is one chapter covering in-depthmuch sought after XML-RPC;with equal diligence he uncovers WSDLin one chapter which is essential in describing webservices.Finally he finishes the book with thorough coverage of UDDI ,(in 3 chapters)which is essential in discovering webservices.For SOAP examples he followed APACHE implementation,which is open source readily available over net for free download.coveredGLUE clearly,under WSDL invocation tools.if you want to know why SOAP no more stands for SIMPLE OBJECTACCESS PROTOCOL;In the plethora of objects still RPC which isproverbially procedural reigning the roost,this is the book you need to keep on the bed side or over the desk top.