As a developer new to Web Services, how do you make sense of this emerging framework so you can start writing your own services today? This concise book gives programmers both a concrete introduction and a handy reference to XML Web Services, first by explaining the foundations of this new breed of distributed services, and then by demonstrating quick ways to create services with open-source Java tools. The book explores four key emerging Web Services technologies:XML Remote Procedure Calls (XML-RPC)SOAP - The foundation for most commercial Web Services developmentUniversal Discovery, Description and Integration (UDDI)Web Services Description Language (WSDL)For each of these topics, Web Services Essentials provides a quick overview, Java tutorials with sample code, samples of the XML documents underlying the service, and explanations of freely-available Java APIs. The book also includes a guide to the current state of Web Services, pointers to open-source tools and a comprehensive glossary of terms. If you want to break through the Web Services hype and find useful information on these evolving technologies, look no further than Web Services Essentials.