Most Java EE APIs are presentation-oriented. But there's another category of service-oriented features that provide data and other services to mobile and desktop "rich" applications. This course explores web services: the concepts, syntax, commands, and tools that allow you to communicate and share data between applications. Author Patrick Royal explores protocols like SOAP and REST and shares simple programming tips for writing web services that are as efficient as possible. He also reveals his favorite extensions for increasing the compatibility of your services. This course includes a series of hands-on practice activities (challenges) that let you test your understanding along the way.