Editing ABAP (section)

==Introduction==
ABAP is one of the many application-specific fourth-generation languages ([[Fourth-generation programming language|4GLs]]) first developed in the 1980s. It was originally the report language for [[SAP R/2]], a platform that enabled large corporations to build mainframe business applications for materials management and financial and management accounting.

ABAP used to be an abbreviation of '''''A'''llgemeiner '''B'''erichts-'''A'''ufbereitungs-'''P'''rozessor'', German for "generic report preparation processor", but was later{{When|date=January 2020}} renamed to the English '''''A'''dvanced '''B'''usiness '''A'''pplication '''P'''rogramming''. ABAP was one of the first languages to include the concept of ''Logical Databases'' (LDBs), which provides a high level of abstraction from the basic database level(s), which supports every platform, language and units.

The ABAP language was originally used by developers to develop the [[SAP R/3]] platform. It was also intended to be used by SAP customers to enhance SAP applications – customers can develop custom reports and interfaces with ABAP programming. The language was geared towards more technical customers with programming experience.

ABAP remains as the language for creating programs for the client–server [[SAP R/3|R/3]] system, which SAP first released in 1992. As computer hardware evolved through the 1990s, more and more of SAP's applications and systems were written in ABAP. By 2001, all but the most basic functions were written in ABAP. In 1999, SAP released an object-oriented extension to ABAP called ABAP Objects, along with R/3 release 4.6.

SAP's current development platform [[SAP NetWeaver|NetWeaver]] supports both ABAP and [[Java (programming language)|Java]].

ABAP has an abstraction between the business applications, the operating system and database. This ensures that applications do not depend directly upon a specific server or database platform and can easily be ported from one platform to another.

SAP Netweaver currently runs on [[Unix|UNIX]] ([[IBM AIX|AIX]], [[HP-UX]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], [[Linux]]), [[Microsoft Windows]], [[IBM i|i5/OS]] on [[IBM i|IBM System i]] (formerly iSeries, AS/400), and [[z/OS]] on [[IBM System z]] (formerly zSeries, S/390). Supported databases are [[SAP HANA|HANA]], SAP ASE (formerly Sybase), [[IBM Db2]], [[IBM Informix|Informix]], [[MaxDB]], [[Oracle Database|Oracle]], and [[Microsoft SQL Server]] (support for Informix was discontinued in SAP Basis release 7.00).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-28 |title=Product Availability Matrix - PAMs |url=http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-8693 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928031622/http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-8693 |archive-date=2016-09-28 |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=scn.sap.com}}</ref>
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