What is the difference between ABAP and ABAP Objects?

Classical ABAP refers to the original, procedural style of writing ABAP programs — a sequence of statements, subroutines (FORM/PERFORM), and event blocks, without object-oriented constructs. ABAP Objects is the object-oriented extension to the language, introduced later, adding classes, interfaces, inheritance, and polymorphism — the same OOP concepts found in languages like Java.

"  classical procedural style
FORM calculate_total USING iv_price TYPE p CHANGING cv_total TYPE p.
  cv_total = cv_total + iv_price.
ENDFORM.

"  ABAP Objects (OOP) style
CLASS lcl_calculator DEFINITION.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    METHODS: add_price IMPORTING iv_price TYPE p.
ENDCLASS.

Modern SAP development strongly favors ABAP Objects for new code, since it brings the same maintainability and reusability benefits object orientation provides in any language, but classical procedural ABAP still exists throughout many older, existing SAP systems and remains fully supported.

Invest now in Acorns!!! 🚀
Join Acorns and get your $5 bonus!

Acorns is a micro-investing app that automatically invests your "spare change" from daily purchases into diversified, expert-built portfolios of ETFs. It is designed for beginners, allowing you to start investing with as little as $5. The service automates saving and investing. Disclosure: I may receive a referral bonus.

Invest now!!! Get Free equity stock (US, UK only)!

Use Robinhood app to invest in stocks. It is safe and secure. Use the Referral link to claim your free stock when you sign up!.

The Robinhood app makes it easy to trade stocks, crypto and more.

Webull! Receive free stock by signing up using the link: Webull signup.