title: Communication between applications written in different languages
body: <p>I am looking at linking a few applications together (all written in different languages like C#, C++, Python) and I am not sure how to go about it.</p>
  
  <p>What I mean by linking? The system I am working on consists of small programs each responsible for a particular processing task. I need to be able to transfer a data set from one application to another easily (the data set in question is not huge, probably a few megabytes) and I also need some form of way to control the current state of the operation (This is where a client-server model rings a bell)</p>
  
  <p>It seems like sockets or maybe SOAP would be a universal solution but just wanted to get some opinions as to what people think about this subject.</p>
  
  <p>Comments/suggestions will be appreciated, thanks!</p>