<pre>
Author/s : Robert Englander
Publisher : O'Reilly
Category : Web Services and SOAP
Review by : Ajith Kallambella
Rating : 6 horseshoes</pre>
Overview -
SOAP is what makes the Web Services clock go around. In fact, SOAP can easily be used as a stand-alone channel without incurring the overheads of publish-find-and-bind cycle apparent in Web Services.
Java's ever growing XML support makes it a language of choice for anyone considering implementing SOAP.
Why
you should read this book -
Whether you are writing a new SOAP service or simply using an existing one, understanding what happens under the bonnet helps make your system more robust.
What this book covers -
This book covers almost everything you have to know about how Java supports the technology - core APIs, SOAP encoding, structure of SOAP messages, attachments, platform interoperability issues and some nice guidelines. It also includes some getting-started examples with two different SOAP servers- Apache and GLUE ? to help the reader understand how SOAP implementation differs. There is some introductory material covering JAX-RPC, JAXM, Apache Axis and WSDL. The chapters are well organized although the writing lacks reader-friendly approach.
Cons -
The book came out in May 2002 and hence a few things are out of date including SOAP spec and Apache implementation. Examples seem rather trivial and lack depth. Advanced SOAP programmers or those considering enterprise integration will be disappointed. Coverage on .NET interoperability is a far cry from even being introductory. I hope the next version of the book will adequately address real integration issues such as performance, transactions, and security.
More info at Amazon.com More info at Amazon.co.uk
