SOAP APIs vs REST APIs
Okeeeyyyyy…
So I was in an interview some days ago which ended to be one of he most tense interview I’ve ever done.
By nature, I thought I knew some things and don’t need to read about them.
But mehnnn, after the interview, I understand that a good software engineer is one that reads with the aim of solidifying what he or she as the case may be knows.
Well, still in the interview process, so I can’t give you a final answer yet *tongues*.
I’ll be writing subsequently on all the questions that were asked and I couldn’t give a very solid answer.
So here is one of them.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOAP APIs AND REST APIs
Well, SOAP AND REST are two answers to the same question…
““How do I access Web Services?”
Communication system can be classified into two:
- SOAP — Simple Object Access Protocol
- REST — Representational State Transfer
How they work and what tool they use for communication creates the fine line between them
Let’s first talk about the two independently, then we’ll embark on the fine line thingy…
REST API
REST is an architectural style of web services that serves as a channel of communication between different systems (computers/services) over the Internet.
Note: The term REST API is something else.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that are backed by the architectural style of REST are referred to as REST APIs.
Web services, database systems and computer systems that are REST API compliant permits requesting systems to
1. get robust access and
2. redefined representation to web based resources
This is done basically by deploying (making them ready to be used) a predefined set of stateless protocols and standard operations
Okay, if you’re a newbie, you might be thinking that what’s the meaning of stateless protocol and standard operation.
Let me make it a little bit more easy for you
stateless protocol is a communications protocol in which the sender or receiver does not retain information. The sender transmits a packet to the receiver and does not expect an acknowledgment of receipt. E.g HTTP
If you want to know more about stateless protocols click here -> (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5836881/stateless-protocol-and-stateful-protocol)
Standard Operations are procedures specific to your operation that describes the activities necessary to complete tasks in accordance to what is to be done.
Now, let’s continue.
Doing all this (protocols, operations and redeploying manageable and updatable components} without causing effect on the system, REST API systems deliver:
1. Fast performance and
2. Reliability
SOAP API
SOAP is a standard communication protocol system that permits processes using different OS (Linux and Windows} to communication over HTTP and its XML.
It was originally developed by Microsoft
SOAP based APIs are to create, recover, update and delete records. (E.g accounts, passwords, and custom objects).
SOAP APIs take the advantage of making web based protocols (HTTP and its XML) that are already operating compatible with all OS. This is why its developers can easily manipulate web services and get responses without caring about language and platforms.
Now, what are the differences between SOAP APIs and REST APIs
1. REST APIs uses multiple standards (HTTP, JSON, XML AND URL) while SOAP APIs is largely based on HTTP and XML
2. REST APIs deploys multiple standards that makes it take fewer resources and bandwidth while SOAP APIs which uses XML for payload creation makes it result in large sized file.
3. REST APIs require the use of HTTP while SOAP APIs are language, platform and transport independent.
4. REST API is more flexible while SOAP API is a more rigid set of messaging patterns
Now a summary table of the difference between the two…
Well, there you have it
I hope now you have a clear and full understanding of the meaning of both SOAP APIs and REST APIs, and the differences between the two…
