How does SOAP differ from REST?

SOAP and REST are different approaches to organizing interaction between systems:

• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): a protocol with a strictly defined message format in XML, supporting security standards, transactions, and reliability. Uses WSDL to describe services. Suitable for complex enterprise integrations.

• REST (Representational State Transfer): an architectural style that uses standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and data formats (JSON, XML). Lighter and simpler, widely used in web services and mobile applications.

Key differences:

• SOAP is a protocol, REST is an architectural style.
• SOAP requires XML, REST supports various formats.
• SOAP is more complex to implement, REST is simpler and more flexible.

Example of a REST request:

GET /users/123 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com

Example of a SOAP request is an XML message with a specific structure.