What is ABAP and ABAP Objects?

ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is a programming language used by SAP for developing commercial applications on the SAP platform. It is a multi-paradigm programming language, which means that programmers can use procedural, object-oriented and other programming principles.

The programming language is based on the ABAP runtime environment (ABAP Runtime Environment) and the ABAP Workbench. The current development platform NetWeaver from SAP supports both ABAP and Java. SAP's own programming language is also known as ABAP/4. The "4" in ABAP/4 stands for "Fourth Generation Language". It was specially developed to enable bulk processing of data in SAP business applications. By working with ABAP in SAP NetWeaver have companies providing the business solutions SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA use, the ability to adapt these systems to their needs.

SAP ABAP is thus a fully customizable programming language that allows developers to develop their own applications on the SAP platform, which in turn dynamically interact with other systems. Highly specialized applications that manage databases, processes and user interfaces can be created with SAP ABAP. ABAP can also be used to develop user-defined functions that are specific to the special requirements of each application - from database queries to dynamic programming and process automation to user interface design and much more.

ABAP Objects (ABAP OO for short, OO stands for "object oriented") has made it possible since ABAP Release 6.10 to simplify the development of applications through modularization. It makes it possible to encapsulate source code in clear, reusable modules of instructions, which reduces effort and abstractly predefines object structures. ABAP Objects has been fully integrated into the SAP standard since Release 4.6 and improves application performance by avoiding unnecessary database queries and reducing competing access to databases. However, it has some special features compared to other object-oriented programming languages, such as single inheritance, the ability to combine interfaces and an object services framework.