Difference between web service and web application

There is a lot of difference between a web service and web application.web service is nothin but a programmable unit of software that can be accesses over internet and used remotely.It can be used by single application or can be exposed to internet where it will be used by multiple applications.

But web application is entire collection of the web pages,handlers,modules,execs which can be invoked from a web server.So if i say in some other view a web service is just a means which provides interoperability between various web apps.In other words a web app works between client/server and web service provides support for working of web apps.

I'll give an example which provides a clear distinction between a web service and web application.

If we consider the banking system,the web page which is used to transact is actually web application.And the developers or the bank data can be considered as the service provider..

So web services is just mechanism to access some programmable unit by using HTTP and XML.web app is just a collection web pages accessed by clients..