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Former Member

This is my first post for this blog. I admit that I am a bit hesitant to post this as I feel it will have no merit as a contribution for any ABAP related content. But I feel that this is the best place to start a blog about ABAP. Not only are there people who can relate, I also believe there are people who can give advice like the experts and mentors or fellow ABAP enthusiasts.

 

SDN has always been the main place for me when I search for ABAP related information. It was only lately that I subscribed to the ABAP Weblogs RSS which resulted with me reading 2 interesting blogs:

 

 

After reading the above mentioned blogs, I got into thinking. But before that, let me start by giving a brief overview about me.

 

I got started with ABAP programming in 2005 and in a rather rushed way. The first company I worked for needed to replace a resigned ABAPper and so I was taught in a rush. I recall I was only taught the basic statements DATA, SELECT, LOOP and WRITE and crudely introduced to the concept of internal tables. All this was done in more or less 4 hours. The next day, I was given some actual work. For the most part of the 2 years I worked in that company, I gradually taught myself ABAP as best as I knew how but only things I needed to complete the requirements given to me. It never occured to me to improve my skill set then because most work I received were basically reports -- basic LOOP AT, WRITE and WS_DOWNLOAD stuff (we had a 4.6C system then).

 

In 2007, an opportunity presented itself when an outsourcing firm opened in a nearby city looking for experienced ABAP programmers. I applied and was hired. This time around, I felt compelled to learn many things because I was basically handling work units that involved the many facets of ABAP -- reports, interfaces, forms and enhancements. This time around, everything was different as I had to cope with strict deadlines for clients so learning new ABAP technology was sidelined. Most systems are still in the older, procedural ABAP paradigm although some have migrated to the newer systems i.e. ECC6. I have been at it for 3 years now and only recently have I felt that I have not improved or grown my ABAP skills.

 

Going back, after reading the 2 blogs I mentioned above, I felt that I needed to step-up my skills gradually. The 2 blogs actually inspired me to create this blog as an entry point in finding the best way to re-learn ABAP programming. I think that the first step I should take is to shed my procedural ABAP programming style and start using ABAP Objects and learn the basics of Web Dynpro.

 

For now, I need advice particularly on transitioning from procedural to OO ABAP. Any ideas, tips or recommendations?

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