Acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol. It's a way for a
computer program to call a function on another computer, a
concept known as RPC. Previously known RPC implementations have
always been somewhat platform and/or language specific. SOAP's
answer is to use XML for Serialisation in marshalling the call
and HTTP to transport it. In other words: SOAP is a bloated,
over engineered implementation of a perfectly trivial concept.
Sigh. The canonical SOAP service is a WebServer at IBM which
returns (delayed) stock quotes. This Wiki has a SOAP source
letting you grab the wiki source of a webpage. There's a WSDL
file describing this source, and you can use xmethods.net to get
a human readable version of it. See also AXIS. From The
Fishbowl: SOAPy Madness: Question 153 of the Undernet #java FAQ
reads: Can I make an IRC chat client with SOAP? Hmm. It's
possible, but everything's possible. It's completely
implausible. SOAP manages to maintain state through sessions,
but the concept of long-running transactions like