Chapter 7
One recent but rapidly growing application of XML is in communications, especially as applied to messaging. This chapter explores how XML has emerged as the ideal messaging solution for solving some of the most difficult issues of applying the distributed computing paradigm in Web-based environments.
We begin with a discussion about the history and technology of messaging as a distributed computing paradigm and why XML is seen as an evolutionary technology in the field of messaging. We will then take a detailed look at two of the XML-based messaging technologies, SOAP and Web Services, and show you how you can build and deploy Web Services using a variety of tools and languages. Finally we will take a first stab at understanding the Microsoft BizTalk Initiative and find out how XML is being used there to solve application integration problems.