Question

Why does soap use its envolope messages? And why Restful doesn’t? They all use HTTP (post,get etc.) , don’t they?
What is the real difference between soap and restful?

Answer 1

SOAP vs. REST [ XML/HTTP ] :The Web Services debate.

* SOAP *

Pros:

• Langauge, platform, and transport agnostic
• Designed to handle distributed computing environments
• Is the prevailing standard for web services, and hence has better support from other standards (WSDL, WS-*) and tooling from vendors
• Built-in error handling (faults)
• Extensibility

Cons:

• Conceptually more difficult, more “heavy-weight” than REST
• More verbose
• Harder to develop, requires tools

* REST *

Pros:

• Language and platform agnostic
• Much simpler to develop than SOAP
• Small learning curve, less reliance on tools
• Concise, no need for additional messaging layer
• Closer in design and philosophy to the Web

Cons:

• Assumes a point-to-point communication model–not usable for distributed computing environment here message may go through one or more intermediaries
• Lack of standards support for security, policy, reliable messaging, etc., so services that have more sophisticated requirements are harder to develop (“roll your own”)
• Tied to the HTTP transport model