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Thats how the SAP ABAP Workbench works. A hierarchical view of your programs, classes, functions, etc. on the left. The root node is where you started, so if y

Thats how the SAP ABAP Workbench works. A hierarchical view of your programs, classes, functions, etc. on the left. The root node is where you started, so if you just open a class, you get the eveything that belongs to that class, but you can also open a whole namespace. On the right you can then edit the code. https://help.sap.com/saphelp_gbt10/helpdata/EN/46/9d783e3a7d371ae10000000a11466f/TEMPLATE_image002.gif https://help.sap.com/saphelp_gbt10/helpdata/EN/46/9d783e3a7d... The syntax of ABAP may be not tho everyone's taste (modern ABAP looks better though), but the capabilities to write business software in a completely integrated system are magical. The database is "just there". SQL to access the DB is a first class citizen of the language. Your datatypes are the same in the database and your programs. You can use the primitive datatypes to create rich datatypes with attached default values and validation logic. When you build a input field in the GUI and connect it to the database field everything just works. That makes me really miss working with SAP.

progre 4y ago
That's also how Microsoft Dynamics Classic works, only its horrible.
kragen 4y ago
How are ABAP's capabilities for abstractions and static typing? I think those matter a lot more than syntax. Can you write, for example, a quickselect function that operates on an array of some arbitrary type with a user-defined ordering, or on an abstract indexable container? Can the type system guarantee that a subroutine can't modify a data structure you pass it a reference to? (Of course there's lots of "business software" that doesn't need this kind of thing.)
- GianFabien 4y ago
  ABAP is used in the ERP systems domain. Once you try to do things outside of those abstractions it becomes difficult or even impossible. This is what basically suffocated the 4GLs of the 1990s. They were too constrained and at the edges problems tend to require unanticipated functionality. It is the non-functional requirements that cause the most implementation problems.
  - kragen 4y ago
    Non-functional requirements?

progre 4y ago

That's also how Microsoft Dynamics Classic works, only its horrible.

kragen 4y ago

How are ABAP's capabilities for abstractions and static typing? I think those matter a lot more than syntax. Can you write, for example, a quickselect function that operates on an array of some arbitrary type with a user-defined ordering, or on an abstract indexable container? Can the type system guarantee that a subroutine can't modify a data structure you pass it a reference to? (Of course there's lots of "business software" that doesn't need this kind of thing.)

GianFabien 4y ago
ABAP is used in the ERP systems domain. Once you try to do things outside of those abstractions it becomes difficult or even impossible. This is what basically suffocated the 4GLs of the 1990s. They were too constrained and at the edges problems tend to require unanticipated functionality. It is the non-functional requirements that cause the most implementation problems.
- kragen 4y ago
  Non-functional requirements?