The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a lightweight, XML-based protocol for the exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment.
Basically, SOAP provides a means for programs running under different operating systems to communicate using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and its
Extensible Markup Language (XML) to perform information exchange.
The primary advantage to using SOAP is its ability to process requests through firewall servers. Because SOAP uses HTTP and XML,
which are typically already installed and available for use by all major operating system platforms.
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