Web service: Difference between revisions

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The [[W3C]] defines a '''Web service'''<ref>Many sources also capitalize the second word, as in Web '''S'''ervices</ref> as a software system designed to support [[interoperability|interoperable]] machine-[[Machine to-machine Machine]] interaction over a [[computer network|network]]. Web services are frequently just [[Application programming interface|application programming interfaces]] (API) that can be accessed over a network, such as the [[Internet]], and executed on a remote system hosting the requested services.

The [[W3C]] Web service definition encompasses many different systems, but in common usage the term refers to those services that use [[SOAP]]-formatted [[XML]] envelopes and have their [[Interface (computer science)|interfaces]] described by [[Web Services Description Language|WSDL]]. For example, [[WS-I]] only recognizes Web services in the context of these specifications.