SAP introduced ABAP Objects, the object-oriented extension to the ABAP programming language, as part of SAP Basis Release 4.6. While ABAP Objects is optimized especially for business application programming, and makes ABAP development a whole lot easier, many developers still cling to the long-standing procedural approach. This article uses a simple yet practical example to compare procedural ABAP and ABAP Objects, and clearly demonstrates the benefits you can gain from using ABAP Objects. You will also learn how you can use elements of ABAP Objects to improve your existing procedural code, making it less error-prone and more maintainable, even without fully adopting ABAP Objects.
Gerd Kluger
Gerd Kluger studied computer science at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. After receiving his degree, he worked for a company whose main focus was the development of programming languages for business applications. He was responsible for the development of the compiler and programming environment for the object-oriented programming language Eiffel. Gerd joined SAP in 1998, and since then has been working in the SAP NetWeaver Foundation ABAP group. His main responsibility is in the development of ABAP Objects, the new class-based exception concept, and the further development of system interfaces, especially with regard to the file system.
You may contact the author at gerd.kluger@sap.com.
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Horst Keller
Horst Keller holds a PhD in physics from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. He joined SAP in 1995 after spending several years involved in research projects at various international institutions. As a Knowledge Architect within the SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP department, he is mainly responsible for the documentation and rollout of ABAP and ABAP Objects, while also developing the programs for formatting and presenting the ABAP documentation, including the related search algorithms. Horst is the author of the books ABAP Objects – An Introduction to Programming SAP Applications (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2002), The Official ABAP Reference (SAP PRESS, 2005), and the ABAP Quick Reference (SAP PRESS, 2005). Numerous other publications and workshops on this subject round off his work.
If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.
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