SOAP vs REST API

[l0ngb1t]

hey,

i am trying to build a mobile app, it needs to communicate with a database (login, get data, update data, simple tasks)
i've been looking for the best way of communication between the app and the server, SOAP and REST are my best options, but which one ?
i have read that SOAP is very complicated yet powerful but REST is simple and suitable for simple tasks.
i need your thoughts on this.

[visser]

I am gonna come up in here and straight poop on both of them.

They both are pretty awesome and have their uses, but they don't seem to be taking off nearly as much as JSON.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have built web apps to talk to both android and iphone using JSON alone and the really nice thing about it is that later if you build a web front end and wnat to use the same api as your mobile apps, its super doable. JSON is used by node.js, and angular.js which have both been making hugely awesome waves.

JSON parsing is built into php and python which are also the major web programming languages being talked about by people in the know. Following the people in the know in web is a big deal because that shit changes faster than i can keep up with it seems. C++ and Java are slow if not dead in the water because they dont have the type of eveolving community that php, python, and especially javascript seem to have.

if you dont have your web app started yet take a look at laravel

let me know if ya get any questions mang!

[ayu]

I wrote a long response but the forum decided to remove it for me.
I don't want to write it all again so, summary:

SOAP is horrible because it's chatty and unnecessarily complicated.

REST together with JSON is great as it's very simplistic and smooth.
And the amount of data is also very limited. No overhead etc.

[bad_brain]

I wrote a long response but the forum decided to remove it for me.

hm, odd...it wasn't intercepted by the security settings, just checked the logs...

[ayu]

b_b: Might have been something on my side. I posted it and it went back to the same page again with an empty text area : /

[l0ngb1t]

too bad, it would very interesting to read a response from you...
anyway i guess i will stick with REST. no need for unnecessary complexity if it is not highly beneficial.

[visser]

Yeah man go with whatever works for you just be aware of how far bought into a single idea you are. What I mean by that is that if your app suddenly needs something as big and heavy as SOAP, dont be so bought into the idea of REST that you have to rebuild everything to make the switch to SOAP. Not like this happens a lot or something, I just know what it feels like when you put all of your eggs in one programming basket ahahhaha