web services

I'd definitely suggest going the C# route (C# webservices being one of my primary jobs at work ;)

If you've got experience with C++ and java, C# should be easy to pick up and you'll be glad you did :)

On top of being easier to use for webservices, C# is the industry standard choice to use for them. That probably makes it the best choice regardless of personal preference.

Here is a bit of info to help you get started:

Making a method available through a webservice is quite trivial

example of normal method

public int DoSomething(int a)
{
return a + 2;
}

example of web method

[WebMethod]
public int DoSomething(int a)
{
return a + 2;
}

Another tip is that there is a tool called wsdl.exe to help you get an interface interact with a webservice. (Look in the .Net framework directory on your machine for it)

You can get the wsdl page as input to that tool by using an url that points to your webservice and has ?wsdl appended onto it.

http://your_web_service.asmx?wsdl

Quote:

C# is the industry standard choice to use for them

I would say that there's a number of frameworks that have been around for longer, and may very well claim they are more standard. Java solutions, such as J2EE and EJB, for example, come to mind. The LAMP suite is another.

That being said, C# using ASP.NET is a fine solution, too, so if you want to choose that, I'd say go for it.