Web Services

[eternaloptimist]

Hi all.
I'm doing my last semester and have a module in Web Services in Cloud Computing. I feel all the stuff we're learning is irrelevant and obsolete. Does anyone even use this stuff anymore i.e SOAP SOA etc?
For cloud stuff we're using vmware esxi (virtual networks, virtual clients). Again, is this stuff used in the real world?

 

[vic777]

Hi all.
I'm doing my last semester and have a module in Web Services in Cloud Computing. I feel all the stuff we're learning is irrelevant and obsolete. Does anyone even use this stuff anymore i.e SOAP SOA etc?
For cloud stuff we're using vmware esxi (virtual networks, virtual clients). Again, is this stuff used in the real world?

Yes, it it still used all over. It depends on which industry you work in but in banking, you still see lots of SOAP web services. You will at some point deal with legacy systems using things like SOAP. Also, they are probably trying to teach you the underlying concepts of service oriented architecture rather than something vendor or technology specific

 

[Solitude]

Hi all.
I'm doing my last semester and have a module in Web Services in Cloud Computing. I feel all the stuff we're learning is irrelevant and obsolete. Does anyone even use this stuff anymore i.e SOAP SOA etc?
For cloud stuff we're using vmware esxi (virtual networks, virtual clients). Again, is this stuff used in the real world?

Yep, it's still used unfortunately.

 

[Kosmik]

SOAP - strongly defined services and objects for integration
REST- More common these days, not strongly typed.

Also, Vmware and Webservices are two very different things, one is a virtualised server/network environment and the other is a data transfer technology.

 

[etienne_marais]

Stuck with SOAP on legacy systems. Prefer WCF. You may or may not run into it in your next job, but if you switch jobs a couple of times it becomes more probable that you will.

 

[Kosmik]

Stuck with SOAP on legacy systems. Prefer WCF. You may or may not run into it in your next job, but if you switch jobs a couple of times it becomes more probable that you will.

WCF can provide exposure as both SOAP and REST ( cross platform ) but at it's purest, its a windows platform specific communication. REST is more prevalent these days with websites and apps, anything using a more public platform on the net I think. Can't say personally, never coded only for WCF to WCF endpoints , always been either SOAP or REST but SOAP is definitely considered legacy. Useful though in full data structure disclosure between systems.

 

[eternaloptimist]

Thanks for the replies, i guess it's worth learning then. My worry was that I often read on blogs etc that universities and colleges have curriculums that are stuck in the 90's and hence teach obsolete stuff.

SOAP - strongly defined services and objects for integration
REST- More common these days, not strongly typed.

Also, Vmware and Webservices are two very different things, one is a virtualised server/network environment and the other is a data transfer technology.

Yes you are right, the vmware stuff is in another module(Virtualisation & Cloud Computing). Would this be more devops or sysadmin type of work?

 

[vic777]

Thanks for the replies, i guess it's worth learning then. My worry was that I often read on blogs etc that universities and colleges have curriculums that are stuck in the 90's and hence teach obsolete stuff.


Yes you are right, the vmware stuff is in another module(Virtualisation & Cloud Computing). Would this be more devops or sysadmin type of work?

Where are you studying?

 

[Kosmik]

Thanks for the replies, i guess it's worth learning then. My worry was that I often read on blogs etc that universities and colleges have curriculums that are stuck in the 90's and hence teach obsolete stuff.


Yes you are right, the vmware stuff is in another module(Virtualisation & Cloud Computing). Would this be more devops or sysadmin type of work?

Services or SOA is more development than operations although these days one could throw the term dev ops around. There are also automated tools which supposedly ( reliably ) create service interfaces for certain programs, even without developer intervention. As a sysadmin, it certainly doesn't hurt to understand the item you would be hosting on a platform ie: IIS etc and what it does but that's more around a support role for a sysadmin.

 

[Batista]

SOAP is still very much in use.You must not get too caught up on the terminology.

A decent dev can move between languages and methods with relative ease.It is outdated but those huge banking systems are not going to change their core now are they? Only smaller companies will start to adapt to the newer web technologies, which have their own benefits and drawbacks, its about the solution that will work for every company and their supplies.Its always good to know how things were done and how things are being done now so that you have a good idea of what to implement.

 

[John_Phoenix]

As batista said, the future is not evenly spread out, one day you'll be working with xml, the next day json and then some yml for good measure, in terms of transport mechanisms, ftp/udp/http/sockets or their implementations, soap/rest/streams to name a few. In our industry you don't need to deep dive all of these, just the ones you'll need to use at that point in time, and over time your knowledge will evolve to accommodate working with all of them. Learn soap if it is required to pass your exam, ace it if you can. The key is to do what needs to be done now, at this point in time as best you can. Greatness follows.

 

[Sinbad]

lol over 2000 calls per second to just one of the SOAP services that run on my infrastructure, and there are hundreds...

 

[eternaloptimist]

very helpful, thanks folks!