XML technologies for RESTful services development

Abstract

For the last several decades the predominant architectural style for the implementation of data-centric applications has had a relational database at the core, procedural code implementing the application services and an object-oriented API. More recently the API has transitioned, via a slight detour through SOAP-based web services, to a RESTful style, however what lies beneath that interface has been slower to take a new approach. In this paper we argue that upgrading that which is under the covers to an XML-centric technology stack will result in a system that is easier to build, test and maintain. Further, these technologies are a step toward making construction of such systems available to nonprogrammers. We present an XML RESTful Services framework that provides mechanisms to address all of the key aspects of systems built in the RESTful architectural style.