RMI v Web Services

Makes their CV (resume) more buzzword-compliant and impressive

But seriously, RMI allows Java apps to invoke methods on other Java apps. Web services are language-agnostic, so Java apps can integrate with C++, or PERL or any other language for which there exists a web services API. Other times, RMI cannot be used because, for instance, the application server doesn't allow it. Web services can be a way around this (but not the only way)

You hit on an important point, though, which my seemingly jokey initial response addresses. Oftentimes, developers will use web services where RMI would have sufficed, and then claim it's "in case we want to talk to other langauges". In fact, that's often not a requirement, and the developers in question have over-engineered the solution simply in order to use web services for the sake of it, hence my response. I call that sort of thinking "CV-driven development" - using a technology so that you can say you have used it, rather than to satisfy an actual business or technical requirement

georgemca at 2007-7-29 19:15:35 >

RMI is just a mechanism for invoking a method on a Java object managed by a different JVM, possibly on a remote machine. Web services uses XML to allow systems written in pretty much any language to call methods/procedures on each other. Since web services use XML, they can operate easily over HTTP, hence the 'web' part. There's more to web services than that, such as the discovery of remote services, but that's a larger subject than can really be explored here. There is plenty of information on t' internet about web services, but the crux of the matter is they allow interaction between disparate systems, regardless of what platforms or languages those systems utilize

georgemca at 2007-7-29 19:15:35 >

Apache Axis

georgemca at 2007-7-29 19:15:35 >