Soap is a substance that has two main definitions:
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In a chemical sense, soap is a compound formed by the reaction of a water-insoluble fatty acid with an organic base or an alkali metal. The soap industry primarily deals with water-soluble soaps that result from the interaction between fatty acids and alkali metals. Soap has been known for at least 2,300 years and was used for washing and cleaning purposes in ancient civilizations.
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In the context of web services, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a messaging protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of web services in computer networks. SOAP is an XML-based messaging protocol that enables the distributed elements of an application to communicate. It can be carried over various standard protocols, including HTTP, SMTP, and TCP. SOAP was developed as an intermediate language for applications with different programming languages, allowing them to communicate with each other over the internet.
