WEB SERVICES:
Web Services can implement SOA. SOA is a design pattern in which application components provide services to other components via a communications protocol. In most contexts a service is a component encapsulated behind an interface. To serve as a catalog of the services offered it is common to use a WSDL. WSDL stands for Web Service Definition Language and it is merely an interface definition listing one ore more services/operations.
REST API
About the architecture:
- Define a deprecation strategy
- Standarize nomenclature
- Accept different user roles
Development lifecycle:
- Define the model
- Choose the method
- Code the operation
- Automate a regresion
- Release the documentation </p>