Object Innovations' Java Web Services Course Finalized for J2EE 1.4

February 17, 2004. Object Innovations released a significant revision of its flagship course in Java Web services today. Course 561, "Developing Java Web Services," now covers the final versions of Web-services APIs required by J2EE 1.4, including SAAJ 1.2 and JAX-RPC 1.1 for SOAP- and WSDL-based services.

Course author Will Provost believes that an effective course in Java Web services must go beyond teaching APIs. "Web services are not yet a well-understood technology," he says. "Most companies are still trying to figure out what exactly these magical beasts can do, and how best to harness them, and there is no one canned answer.

"There are two major strategies for XML or SOAP messaging: manual construction and data binding. Manual construction and parsing of message content works at a low level, giving (and requiring) fine control of content per XML element. It's labor-intensive. Data binding is more exciting in a way, as it promises to translate messages automatically to and from object models. But each approach has its place in the industry."

"Developing Java Web Services" introduces the interoperable Web services architecture, and then studies the Java APIs in the context of these two strategies: SAAJ for manual construction, JAX-RPC for data binding and automated SOAP messaging based on Java interfaces and JavaBeans. In this way the course offers a comprehensive picture of Web services. It enables students to make solid architectural choices, all while pursuing the traditional skill-building approach to learning APIs and runtime behaviors.

Shipments of the new course begin immediately. Course 561 becomes the single source for training in Java Web-service development, as OI now retires previous component courses 551, 552 and 554. (Course 556, "Publishing and Discovery Using UDDI and Java," remains available and is unrelated to this update.)