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SOAP

Vangie Beal
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:55 am

Short for Simple Object Access Protocol, a lightweight XML-based messaging protocol used to encode the information in Web service request and response messages before sending them over a network. SOAP messages are independent of any operating system or protocol and may be transported using a variety of Internet protocols, including SMTP, MIME, and HTTP.

Also see Understanding “Web Services” in the “Did You Know…?” section of Webopedia.