🌁Software Engineering: Web Service(s) (Definitions)

"The programmatic interfaces that enable different applications to communicate and process data via the Web." (Evan Levy & Jill Dyché, "Customer Data Integration", 2006)

"A set of standards that serves as one possible way of realizing a SOA infrastructure. Initially started with the core standards XML, HTTP, WSDL, SOAP, and UDDI, it now contains over 60 standards and profiles developed and maintained by different standardization organizations, such as W3C, OASIS, and WS-I." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"A software component designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network based on Internet standards." (Victor Isakov et al, "MCITP Administrator: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Optimization and Maintenance (70-444) Study Guide", 2007)

"A software system used to transfer data. A common use of a Web service is to transfer data across the Internet. A Web service provider receives requests for data and responds. For example, a weather Web service could accept a zip code as input and respond with weather data for the zip code." (Robert D. Schneider and Darril Gibson, "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies", 2008)

"A software component created with an interface consisting of a WSDL definition, an XML schema definition, and a WS-Policy definition. Collectively, these could be called a service contract - or, alternatively, an API." (Judith Hurwitz et al, "Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies 2nd Ed.", 2009)

"A software system designed to allow inter-computer interaction over a network to perform a task. Other computers interact with a web service, in a manner prescribed by its interface, using messages which are enclosed in a SOAP envelope and are often conveyed by HTTP. Software applications can use web services to exchange data over a network." (Mark Olive, "SHARE: A European Healthgrid Roadmap", 2009)

"As defined by the W3C, a Web service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. Web services are frequently just Web APIs that can be accessed over a network, such as the Internet, and executed on a remote system hosting the requested services. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is most often implemented using Web services, which defines how SOA services interact using the following standards: Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description Language (WSDL), and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI)." (John Goodson & Robert A Steward, "The Data Access Handbook", 2009)

"A set of standards that serves as one possible way of realizing an SOA infrastructure." (David Lyle & John G Schmidt, "Lean Integration", 2010)

"A program running on a network that another program can call for service." (Rod Stephens, "Start Here!™ Fundamentals of Microsoft® .NET Programming", 2011)

"Modular business and consumer applications, delivered over the Internet, that users can select and combine through almost any device, enabling disparate systems to share data and services. These are software systems designed to support machine-to-machine interactions over a network." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"Platform-neutral, vendor-independent protocols that enable distributed processing to be performed using XML and Web-based technologies. Sometimes instantiated as remote procedure calls in which the request is an XML document." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A server-based collections of data, plus a collection of software routines operating on the data, that can be accessed by remote clients. One of the features of Web services is that they permit client users (e.g., humans or software agents) to discover the kinds of data and methods offered by the Web service and the rules for submitting server requests. To access Web services, clients must compose their requests as messages conveyed in a language that the server is configured to accept, a so-called Web services language." (Jules H Berman, "Principles of Big Data: Preparing, Sharing, and Analyzing Complex Information", 2013)

"A software component created with an interface consisting of a WSDL definition, an XML schema definition, and a WS-Policy definition. Collectively, components could be called a service contract or, alternatively, an API." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"A service that provides a standardized web-based interface so that it is easy to invoke over the Internet." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"An application-level service that runs on a server and is accessed in a standard way using XML for data marshalling and HTTP as its network transport." (Daniel Leuck et al, "Learning Java" 5th Ed., 2020)

"A set of standards and mechanisms that enables software components to be deployed so that they can be invoked across the Internet or an intranet, with data passed between client and component in the form of text files containing XML. This means the client application does not need to know anything about the language or deployment mechanism of the component it is invoking. Since Web Services is the name of a facility, the term is singular." (Microfocus)

"A software component deployed using the Web Services standards and mechanisms." (Microfocus)

"A Web service is a unit of application logic that provides data and services to other applications, regardless of language or platform, through an Internet connection. Generally, a Web service is exposed by one company so that another company or software program can use that service." (Microfocus)

"Web Services is a technology that enables software components, regardless of the language in which they are written or the platform on which they run, to be accessed by applications across the Internet." (Microfocus)