lessons from the failure of soap

Lessons from the Failure of SOAPClay LovelessFounder, JexyGlue ConferenceMay 25, 2011

@claylo#gluecon #SOAPArmy of Darkness

™ ©& Orion Pictures Corporation1993

2010 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.All Rights Reserved

©

@claylo#gluecon

It all started out happily enough.

•SOAP used the World Wide Web!

•Everyone had the World Wide Web!

•SOAP beat the crazy stuff that preceded it!

•Imagine the possibilities! The future is ours!

Army of Darkness™ ©& Orion Pictures Corporation1993


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@claylo#glueconArmy of Darkness™ ©& Orion Pictures Corporation1993


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A Look Back at SOAP



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A Look Back at SOAP

1998: XML 1.0 becomes W3C recommendation



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A Look Back at SOAP

1998: CORBA begins dying,SOAP seems like good idea




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A Look Back at SOAP



1999: SOAP 1.0



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A Look Back at SOAP



1999: SOAP 1.0

2000: SOAP Vendor pissingcontests begin in earnest



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A Look Back at SOAP



1999: SOAP 1.0


2003: ‘Simple’ dropped fromSOAP 1.2 acronym.



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A Look Back at SOAP



1999: SOAP 1.0



2004: Flickr non-SOAP API.Serialized PHP payload option.



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A Look Back at SOAP



1999: SOAP 1.0




2006: Twitter API bornJSON payload debuts.



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A Look Back at SOAP



1999: SOAP 1.0




2006: Twitter API bornJSON payload debuts.

200?: SOAP apathy



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Complexity KILLS



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Complexity KILLS

“SOAP is Awesome! WS-MOAR!!”



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Complexity KILLS

“SOAP is Awesome! WS-MOAR!!”

WS-Security

WS-PolicyWS-Trust

WS-SecureConversation

WS-Transfer

WS-Addressing

WS-Reliability WS-ReliableMessaging

WS-ResourceProperties

WS-PolicyAssertions

WS-Eventing



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How SOAP is seen today



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How SOAP is seen today

Today’s coders

WS-*



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Definitely an word

Too much complexity

Vendor competition+

Toolchain Nightmare=

N

Klaatu

Barada

Necktie...



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!=

It’s a trick Get an axe



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Web Services

Web services

!=




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“Web Services based on SOAP and WSDL are ‘Web’ in name only. In fact, they are a hostile overlay of the Web based on traditional enterprise middleware architectural styles that has fallen far short of expectations over the past decade.”

—Nick Gall, VP Gartner@ironick in 2007




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Get an axe

It’s a trick

coupling



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Simple

tools

Loose

REST JSON

@claylo#gluecon

Programmable WebInterlude



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REST vs. SOAP: Simplicity wins again

Distribution of API protocols and stylesBased on directory of 3,200 web APIs listed at ProgrammableWeb, May 2011

still



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OAuth

is

Encryption missing

theanswer

notonly

Security



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What’s REST got that SOAP doesn’t?

Schemastill

Important


•“The audacity of hope is no match for the complexity of SOA.”

•“Nothing gets between me and my SOA ... except more SOA.”



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@claylo#gluecon

Discussion



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lessons from the failure of soap

Technology

complexitykills soap

soap apathy1998

soap vendor pissingcontests

mayer studios

flickr nonsoap api

good idea

w3c recommendation2004

simple dropped fromsoap