http://spf13.com/post/soap-vs-rest
REST
RESTs sweet spot is when you are exposing a public API over the internet to handle CRUD operations on data. REST is focused on accessing named resources through a single consistent interface.
SOAP
SOAP brings it’s own protocol and focuses on exposing pieces of application logic (not data) as services. SOAP exposes operations. SOAP is focused on accessing named operations, each implement some business logic through different interfaces.
Though SOAP is commonly referred to as “web services” this is a misnomer. SOAP has very little if anything to do with the Web. REST provides true “Web services” based on URIs and HTTP.
By way of illustration here are few calls and their appropriate home with commentary.
getUser(User);
This is a rest operation as you are accessing a resource (data).
switchCategory(User, OldCategory, NewCategory)
This is a SOAP operation as you are performing an operation.
Yes, either could be done in either SOAP or REST. The purpose is to illustrate the conceptual difference.
