glossary

web application
A web application or web service is a software application that is accessible using a web browser or HTTP user agent. It typically consists of a thin-client tier (the web browser), a presentation tier (web servers), an application tier (application severs) and a database tier. The application may be spread over multiple presentation tiers and indeed use multiple application tiers, using multiple database sources.

web service
The term Web services describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems behind the firewall.

xml
(Extensible Markup Language) An initiative from the W3C defining an "extremely simple" dialect of SGML suitable for use on the World-Wide Web.

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