Mini-Course Description:
M455: An Introduction to Web Services with Mathematica

Course Objective
This course is designed to present Mathematica's web services features in depth, enabling participants to integrate web services to extend Mathematica's capabilities using standard web technology.

Course Summary
Web services provide data and functionality to applications using standard web technology such as HTTP and XML. This course introduces users to web services and explains how they can be beneficial to Mathematica users. Demonstrations will be presented that explain how to dynamically load web services into Mathematica. Fully functional Mathematica applications will be presented to give a larger picture of the impact web services can have on Mathematica.

Presenter
The course is presented by a Wolfram Research senior developer or a Wolfram Education Group certified instructor. Some sessions of the course are presented by Chris Williamson, the author of Web Services Package. Chris has been developing for Wolfram Research since 2001.

Target Audience
The course is intended for Mathematica users who wish to learn more about web services and perhaps create applications that integrate data or functionality into Mathematica using web services.

Delivery Type
This mini-course is given online in one 3- to 4-hour session. Additional online training information is available.

Syllabus
The course is organized into eight segments.

Introduction
An introduction to the key technologies that make web services possible

Stock Data--A Simple Example
An example that demonstrates how simple and natural it can be to use a web service with Mathematica

Google Web Service--Compound Data Types
An example that demonstrates how complex data structures are dealt with while using web services

Under the Hood--Working with Messages Directly
Some web services may not conform to specific standards and may not immediately work with the Mathematica web services functionality. This section demonstrates how a developer can get under the hood and make these web services work.

XMethods--Discovering What Web Services Are Out There
A segment that allows attendees to interactively discover and learn about the web services available publicly

Integrator Web Service--A Pure Mathematica example
An example that demonstrates how to create a web service with webMathematica and use features that make integration with Mathematica very convenient

Wolfram Search Web Service
A complete Mathematica example that demonstrates how to completely integrate a Mathematica appplication with a web service

Outlook
A discussion of existing programs, literature, and topics of interest

Course Materials
Each attendee will be provided with Mathematica course notebooks and access to the current version of Mathematica. The course notebooks require Mathematica or Mathematica Player. For attendees participating in classroom-based sessions, course materials are distributed in print and on CD-ROM, and are yours to keep; a computer running Mathematica is available for your use during class. For attendees participating in online classes, a download of the course materials is provided; a temporary Mathematica training license is provided upon request.

Prerequisites
Course attendees are expected to have basic familiarity with Mathematica approximately equivalent to that provided by "M101: A First Course in Mathematica."

To sign up for this course, see the training calendar and registration page.