Introducing WCF Data Services
Primarily designed in order to separate the presentation layer and data in a REST-based model, WCF Data Services are used to expose data as a service so it can be accessed via HTTP requests. You can use the standard HTTP verbs MERGE, GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE and perform CRUD operations against the service. WCF Data Services expose the database schema in terms of XML metadata. It uses Atom and JSON data formats for data transfers over the HTTP protocol.
WCF Data Services isolate the Data Access Layer and expose data via WCF Services. We do not need to have the presentation layer as a consumer of Data Services. We could also have another service as occurs in SOA scenarios.
You can use WCF Data Services to expose data through Web Services in terms of EDM abstractions such as EDM objects. These objects can then be accessed by any application in much the same way such as a Web Service is accessed.
How do WCF Data Services and Web Services differ?
The primary difference...
