Yar, in my limited experience with SOAP, it's like Java: Good ideas under the hood, but then the usage you usually see is just /terrible/....
But I really like the idea that the API can tell you about the API, and do kind of wish JSON REST APIs had similar patterns.
I think the main problem that XML runs into is that it's used a data interchange format and/or a data serialization, instead of a markup.
I think the bit you're missing from the XML APIs - that makes you re-implement things - is the lack of an API descriptive document (like the WSDL). If that was a thing, REST is at least as automatically ported as any XML API style. (Someone would still have to write the libraries that turn the document into objects/functions, but that happens with the XML stuff as well)
But I really like the idea that the API can tell you about the API, and do kind of wish JSON REST APIs had similar patterns.
I think the main problem that XML runs into is that it's used a data interchange format and/or a data serialization, instead of a markup.
I think the bit you're missing from the XML APIs - that makes you re-implement things - is the lack of an API descriptive document (like the WSDL). If that was a thing, REST is at least as automatically ported as any XML API style. (Someone would still have to write the libraries that turn the document into objects/functions, but that happens with the XML stuff as well)