"Protocol" usually refers to a set of rules that define an exact format for comm unication between systems.

For example the HTTP protocol defines the format for communication between web browsers and web servers. Examples: TCP/IP , HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, SOAP & ODATA Protocal. Open Data Protocol: Open Data Protocol is an open protocol for sharing data. It is built upon AtomPub itself an extension of Atom Publishing Protocol. OData is a REST (Representational State Transfer) protocol; Therefore a simple web browser can view the data exposed through an OData servic e. OData specs are under Microsoft Open Specification Promise (OSP). The basic idea behind OData is to use a well known data format (Atom feed) to ex pose a list of entities. XML Format source code of Odata Protocal. http://services.odata.org/website/odata.svc/ODataConsumers. This URL also return s an XML document, an Atom feed. Now, if you look at it in Internet Explorer, you'll view it in a feed reader vie w. To be able to view the raw XML, you must go to your Internet Options, in the Content tab:

At the bottom, press the Settings button under the Feeds and Web Slices section. In the Settings screen, make sure to turn off feed reading view. Now, if we look at the XML, it's a standard Atom feed: it has a title, an ID.

Why use the Open Data Protocol?