Easiest setup for web services?

[ykgoh]

What is the easiest lightweight setup to develop and deploy web services, supporting SOAP and REST with XML and JSON serialization format?

Is there an ready-made open source software stack (web server, frameworks and libraries) that allows me to just dive in and start implementing a class with methods (WebMethods)?

I hope I don't have to spend too much time downloading and installing software libraries and configuring IDE, Web app server, frameworks and libraries.

Any language would be fine e.g. Java, C#, Python, PHP etc. Afaik, Microsoft solution usually entails installing a giant suite of software (e.g. Visual Studio, IIS), though the programming and server setup part might be minimal.

 

[davidktw]

What is the easiest lightweight setup to develop and deploy web services, supporting SOAP and REST with XML and JSON serialization format?

Is there an ready-made open source software stack (web server, frameworks and libraries) that allows me to just dive in and start implementing a class with methods (WebMethods)?

I hope I don't have to spend too much time downloading and installing software libraries and configuring IDE, Web app server, frameworks and libraries.

Any language would be fine e.g. Java, C#, Python, PHP etc. Afaik, Microsoft solution usually entails installing a giant suite of software (e.g. Visual Studio, IIS), though the programming and server setup part might be minimal.

I'm afraid SOAP based Web services is not something you can easily just drop in and start rolling. It's contradictory to the acronym of S.O.A.P where S refers to SIMPLE.

However you will find frameworks available today where they more or less package the necessary libraries together, so you don't usually need to source out libraries from various sources.

When dealing with SOAP based Web Services, my recommendation is go with Contract-First implementation since it establish the rules of engagement before you even start coding. These sets of rules will allow interoperability between the web services clients and server easily.

Contract-Last is the alternative but I have personally experience compatibility issues between server and clients due to certain libraries limitation or programming languages differences and adaptation. Since web services is largely about interoperability between different platforms, it make sense to ensure your integration engagement via WSDL is out first before you engage in implementation of the services.

You might wanna look at Apache CXF, SPRING Web Services.

As for RESTful, it is another thing. It has different approachs to the remote communication problem. You can just use SPRING core framework to implement it. Java Annotations will be helpful to make the approach smoother. Apache CXF also supports RESTful.