Get Started with Your SAP ABAP Journey: Introduction

Introduction

I’m excited to share my very first blog post!

My name is Mamikee (Ma – Me – Key). I am a Developer Advocate with the SAP Developer and Community Relations team. I focus on the developer learning experience for emerging developers starting with those that are first learning ABAP.

If you are new to the SAP ABAP technology and are confused about where to start, this series will help guide you through your journey. I aim to give you clear guidance that I believe wasn’t available for me. This blog post will be the first in this series of your ABAP learning journey.

“Slow And Steady Wins The Race”

Learning something new can sometimes be frustrating especially if you are given so many resources. You can be confused and wondering “Where do I even start?”. It’s important to remember that whenever you are learning something new, it will require you to take small steps. Understand what you are being taught and try not to get too focused on the end-result. This will allow you to be able to go through your journey smoothly. I always say, learning the basics the first time will help you get ahead.

When I first started my own programming journey it was not a straight road that I was able to get through. It required me to go through a lot of content and try my best to understand it from a newbie’s perspective. A lot of the content that I found was either hard to understand or skipped over. I always felt that it was not really targeting me (a newbie). As a Developer Advocate, I am here to ensure that you are offered the right guidance and provide you with easy to consume content that will help you through your learning journey.

I am creating this blog series to help anyone, whether you are a student, a professional, or just want to learn something new. My goal is to provide you clear and cut content to help you through your journey.

ABAP: What, Why and How

The first step in getting started with ABAP is well, to understand the what, why, and how.

What is ABAP?

ABAP is a programming language that runs in the SAP ABAP runtime environment, created, and used by SAP for the development of application programs. It is the solid longtime foundation for SAP’s solution portfolio.

ABAP is the underlying technology of SAP’s traditional Business Suite, SAP’s flagship solution SAP S/4HANA, and other forthcoming innovative solutions such as next-generation data warehouse SAP BW/4HANA. ABAP technology is continuously extended to serve new business scenarios and innovative application development.

Why Learn ABAP?

Personally, I think it is important to learn ABAP because of its proven reliability and robustness. This makes it the platform of choice for running mission-critical business processes. SAP customers and partners also have a long tradition of building custom code and add-ons that run on the ABAP technology platform.

One of the advantages that I found with ABAP is the ability to have all the tools for the whole development lifecycle integrated into one place and part of the server. There is no need for a separate system.

How to Develop in ABAP?

Before we begin the development process in ABAP, we need to install the tools that are needed. Below we will go over the software and tools to begin your ABAP journey.

Download and Installation

Now that you have got a brief overview of what exactly is ABAP, it is time to begin the installation process. You can choose from different deployment options to get started with the ABAP platform: in the cloud with SAP BTP or on-premise with the Developer Edition.

Prerequisites

1. Download the latest version of SAP GUI. For MAC users, see this blog for details on requirements and installation instructions.
2. Register with DockerHub
3. Install Docker for Desktop: Windows or Mac.
4. Install the free trial on DockerHub

Follow the instructions on the ABAP Development Tools site to install ADT:

You can also check out this interactive tutorial: Install ABAP Development Tools (ADT) and abapGit Plugin

What’s Next: Get started with ABAP Development

Congrats! You have completed the first step into your ABAP journey. Once you have completed the installation process, you will now be able to develop in ABAP. In the next blog post of this series, we will create our first ABAP project in Eclipse.

As we continue to learn more, I will use this first blog post to link all the parts of this series:

Get Started with Your SAP ABAP Journey: Introduction – You are here

Get Started with Your SAP ABAP Journey: Part 2 – Click here

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