Structure of This Book

The book is divided into 12 chapters and 6 appendixes. To help you focus on just the web services aspects of the sample programs, chapters include and discuss fragments of code; the full source is available in several appendixes.

Chapter 1, gives you the big picture, telling you what's covered and why it's important.

Chapter 2, gets you up to speed with the open foundations that web services are built on.

Chapter 3, is an introduction to the XML and HTTP of XML-RPC.

Chapter 4, shows you how to develop your own XML-RPC applications using three popular toolkits.

Chapter 5, is an introduction to the XML and HTTP of SOAP.

Chapter 6, is an introduction to writing SOAP clients and servers in the two SOAP toolkits.

Chapter 7, focuses on using the SOAP::Lite toolkit to write SOAP clients with HTTP as a transport.

Chapter 8, uses SOAP::Lite over transports, such as SMTP (email) and Jabber (instant messaging).

Chapter 9, shows how to describe web services interfaces.

Chapter 10, explains the leading way to discover services dynamically.

Chapter 11, is an introduction to the web services philosophy that is often seen as a simpler alternative to XML-RPC and SOAP.

Chapter 12, surveys the leading edge of web services technology for security, discovery, reliability, transactions, and internationalization.

Appendix A, provides a reference to the three XML-RPC toolkits discussed in Chapter 4.

Appendix B, is a definitive guide to the SOAP::Lite toolkit used heavily in Chapter 4 through Chapter 10.

Appendix C, contains the full program listings for the applications developed in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.

Appendix D, contains the full program listings for the applications developed in Chapter 6, Chapter 7, and Chapter 8.

Appendix E, contains the full program listings for the examples developed in Chapter 9 and Chapter 10.

Appendix F, gathers the bibliography and references used in the writing of the book.