Chapter 9. Python, Web Services, and SOAP
The Internet has opened many eyes to the possibilities of easily accessible digital information. With systems connected together, there is no reason why an airline ticket agent can’t have an email sent to your hotel when you’re boarding your flight 45 minutes late. Likewise, an Internet-enabled PDA and GPS should have no trouble automatically updating driving directions for you when notified that your hotel has changed due to overbooking. In other words, web services enable distributed systems to communicate with each other, sharing relevant pieces of user information to trigger the right kinds of events, alerts, and notices. However, web services hold a great deal of promise for those other than end-users or business travelers. For corporations, web services provide a greater degree of interoperability with trading partners, allowing the automation of business transactions and tighter integration between production and supply-chain systems. As previously mentioned, for humans, web services hold the promise of tying together distributed information in such a way that the Web can become a unified, seamless whole, regardless of a user’s location or device. Understanding the impact of such innovation can shed light on the current interest in and excitement over web services. Understanding the technology behind them can give you the tools to create more powerful, integrated, and dynamic web applications.
Web services are distributed systems ...
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