Post 1: How About An Introduction

Since we are to post meanderings about such topics as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), perhaps someone might care to define for me what exactly SOA is. The materials provided at http://www.whatissoa.com/ and http://www.soaprinciples.com/ seem to be as good a place to start as any. Though I can't say I was too encouraged initially in reading the opening paragraphs on the What is SOA? homepage, as it appears that maybe no one really knows exaclty what it is:

Amidst all the SOA-related activity that is currently underway, there still remains a significant amount of confusion as to what exactly constitutes a service-oriented architecture. Some qualify an SOA project by the fact that Web services technologies are being used, while others classify SOA as a Web-centric variation of object-oriented design.

What has become more clear than the actual meaning of SOA is the strategic vision that has emerged around it. This vision is comprised of a set of goals and benefits that most stakeholders fully expect to see realized when they support and commit to SOA initiatives. However, because the "SOA" acronym has been used to brand products, technologies, and even projects without a clear understanding of its meaning, many of these expectations have been and will continue to remain unfulfilled. For example, the common (and dangerous) assumption that a solution is service-oriented solely because it uses Web services has led to much disappointment. There is, in fact, a wealth of information out there that communicates the meaning of SOA in detail. The only problem is that this information is fragmented - distributed across marketing literature, technology specifications, media reports, and independent research efforts.

Great start! Anyone else care to give it a go?

In all seriousness, after doing some cursory navigation around these two sites, I can say without a doubt, that there is a wealth of information here fit for any development geek to sink his/her teeth into. As things progress, I'm sure I will be coming back to it for reference material as the technical verbiage in class intensifies and I begin to lose what little remaining confidence I have that I have the slightest clue what is going on.