Odata is an open data protocol.

ODATA is a protocol which SAP is adopting for its future web applications.
A protocol is a set of rules by which official procedures are conducted.
It is actually a protocol for data transfer and its not owned or developed by SAP.
Odata is not a new development tool but a data transfer technique.
EXAMPLE: OData – stands for Open Data Protocol – and is a protocol that that SAP is
using to make SAP data accessible to world so that even developers who don’t
understand SAP lingo can be able use this data and develop Web Applications, websites
and Mobile Apps. Imagine you don’t know how SAP Sales order data looks or how the SD
module works but still be able to develop a cool looking app to show Sales Order report
on Android Phone for your customers.

Data sent using the HTTP Protocol will ne interepted/accepted accordingly by the receiving device-
smartphone, tablet etc.
This data is usually sent out by the server in XML or JSON format.
XML Notation

<student>
<name>James Bond</name>
<university>
<name>Oxford</name>
<country>UK</country>
</university>
<gpa>3.5</gpa>
<score>10</score>
</student>

REST-Representational State Transfer help us to make a one to one mapping of CRUD operations to
HTTP methods. CRUD stands for create, Read, Update, Delete.
In other words REST approach is actually the implementation of HTTP or the way HTTP is meant to be
used.

In this case data is uniquely referenced by URL and can be acted upon using HTTP Operations(Get, PUT,
POST, DELETE)
According to this mapping
To create a resource on the server, use POST.
To retrieve a resource, use GET.
To change the state of a resource or to update it, use PUT.
To remove or delete a resource, use DELETE.
SAP using the HTTP(s) protocol and can manipulate (read, write, modify and understand i.e.
parse and construct) an XML document.
SAP Netweaver Gateway (blue box within Application Layer in the below picture) is a
technology that seamlessly connects devices, platforms and environments to SAP
Enterprise Data using the OData services.
SAP Netweaver Gateway offers connectivity to SAP Business data using any programming
language and without the need of strong SAP development knowledge.