I recently taught for the first time a 5-day Web Services course (Sun's Developing Java Web Services - DWS-385), and as usual I complemented the standard courseware with a few articles and diagrams scavenged from the web.
The labs for the current version of DWS-385 will only work with very specific software, namely Sun Java Application Server Platform Edition 8.0 Update 1 and Java Web Services Developer Pack 1.5. It won't work (I tried) with SJAS 8.1 and/or JWSDP 1.6, currently the most recent versions. The JWSDP 1.5 download in particular was a bit difficult to find, since Sun's pages all point to JWSDP 1.6. As usual, Google was more helpful in locating Sun's own content than Sun's search engine.
Although DWS-385 does mention some of the differences between the SOAP-style and the REST-style of web services, it is heavily biased towards the former. Comparing both styles is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, since REST is just a loosely defined architectural style, while SOAP is a standardized and highly detailed implementation of an alternative architectural style. To understand the "RESTful" approach to web services, start with Roger Costello's short Building Web Services the REST Way and then proceed to the excellent xFront REST Tutorial (Powerpoint version). Paul Prescod has a couple of nice articles over at O'Reilly's XML.com: Second Generation Web Services and REST and the Real World. Last but not the least, John Cowan has a wonderful and detailed REST presentation called RESTful Web Services (pdf, 148 slides).
I found Rahul Srivastava's series of articles on XML Schema for Oracle Technology Network to be very helpful when clarifying some finer aspects of XML Schema:
- XML Schema: Understanding Structures
- XML Schema: Understanding Datatypes
- XML Schema: Understanding Namespaces
The last article in particular has a wonderful explanation of the rules governing the qualification of elements and attributes in the Target Namespace.
One the things you can do after attending or studying DWS-385 is to become certified by Sun, by taking exam CX-310-220 (Sun Certified Developer for Java Web Services). Java.boot.by has a series of study guides for the four major Java certifications, including a SCDJWS Study Guide with lots of information. I used some of the info from the JAXB and SAAJ sections.
listed below are links for SCDJWS
http://www.xyzws.com/scdjws.do?cat=scdjws
http://www.xyzws.com/scdjws.do?cat=scdjws&smenu=MOCK
Posted by: | 2006.07.18 at 17:21