ABAP: Overview

ABAP is a hybrid programming language that supports both a procedural and an object-oriented programming model. Both modules are interoperable. The object-oriented variant of the language is known as ABAP Objects. ABAP offers the benefits of a 4GL language, meaning that many functions stored in libraries in other languages are included as language elements. This makes it easier to run static checks on programs and improves performance. In particular, Open SQL (a subset of SQL) is incorporated into the language, for reading and modifying database content.

Development of the ABAP language started in 1982. Since then, the programming model used for the development of business applications has been revised continuously. These changes have been reflected in the language itself. To guarantee that older programs (particularly customer developments) continue to work after upgrades, ABAP supports older programming technologies. They should not, however, be used for new developments.