Sams Teach Yourself ABAP/4 in 21 Days

By Ken Greenwood

The ideal book for a programmer who must get started in ABAP immediately, and does not want to know the complete story of how and why ABAP was originated. Provides all of the essential information... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0672312174
• ISBN13: 9780672312175
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Sams
• Length: 752 Pages
• Weight: 2.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 2.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Highly conceptual !!!

This is best book I came across in terms of concepts.For every concept there is a practical example .This is best way to learn instead of reading long boring sentences.This book is meant for beginners and those who already used languages like cobol,java but learning ABAP.However this covers only basics of ABAP in reporting.It doesn't cover dialog programming which is big area.However it is best beginning for someone starting ABAP/SAP career and I highly recommend it.Please note the version is abap 3.0 which is too old (now we have 4.7).However all the examples work in 4.7 so that is not big issue.

Excellent work

It is an excellent book for the beginner. It is very much 'hands-on' as it walks you through every step of a project. It helped me to master the workbench. Its extensive coverage on Data Dictionary helped me to create transparent and internal tables. He provides examples and clear explanation of every step and command used.It provides a solid foundation for beginning ABAP/4 programming. SAMS should get its authors to use this as a model. I simply like it.

An excellent book for the beginning ABAP/4 programmer.

This is an excellent book, if you have some experience in IT, but are new to SAP and ABAP/4 programming. The author gives a short overview of the SAP system. He describes how client/server and database are implemented in SAP. The book shows you how to get around in the Workbench -- how to use the SAP menus and other online features to create, update, and test your code -- something that other ABAP/4 books lack. I found the step-by-step directions for writing code, creating tables, etc., very helpful. The book covers only reporting with ABAP/4 -- it doesn't cover dialog programming (programming for interactive screens), or SAPscript. But, for the subjects covered, I think it may be the best beginning book. The writing is clear, straighforward, and even has a sense of humor.

Best Book on the ABAP Market

I looked at all of the ABAP books out there and this one spins circles around the others by far. The others when they describe a topic are often vague and don't have much in the way of simple code samples, but this one is very specific and precise, and there are so many nice small code samples and they all run. This is also the only one with step-by-step procedures and even screencams, which is important because there are so many screens to go through when you need to do something like create a function module. There is also lots of information in here that I can't find anywhere else, even in the R/3 library. Very well laid out and the explantions are very clear and easy to understand even for a beginner, which isn't easy because ABAP is a very complex language. This guy deserves a medal because learning this stuff isn't easy - it has got to be the most complex language I've ever seen, and I'm a mainframe dinosaur and I've seen lots. Oh yea, and I almost forgot, you can upload the code to your R/3 system and run it and it automatically creates its own tables and fills them with data too - again, the only book that does that and if you want to learn, hands-down this book is the best.

Outstanding training tool! Best in its class!

Overall Rating: ***** (Excellent)I have personally taught more than 32 weeks of the SAP ABAP/4 Partner Academy courses and read several books on ABAP/4.This book is definitely "best in its class" covering material from SAP's BC400 and BC430 courses (week 1 of the ABAP/4 Partner Academy) and beyond. Ken is a master at making complex concepts easily understood. The book is full of helpful diagrams, R/3 screen captures, program cutouts (explained line by line by Ken), and helpful tips.The end of each chapter concludes with a "Summary", a table of "Do's and Don'ts", "Questions and Answers", and a "Workshop" that includes a "Quiz" and, where appropriate, one or more "Exercises". This is truly an excellent training tool, going far beyond the typical "reference" books I have read in the past.The CD-ROM at the back of the book includes an "uploadable" copy of the source code of programs used in the book, 58 Lotus ScreenCams that demonstrate many key tasks on a live R/3 System (extremely helpful for those who do not have access to an R/3 System), four very useful utilities for ABAP/4 developers (written by the author), and even a trial version of a "German-to-English" translator (seasoned ABAP/4 programmers will understand the value of this tool for interpreting German-only documentation found in many SAP function modules!).Warning to all ABAP/4 instructors: get your hands on this book quick before your future students do - they may end up knowing more than you do!Overall - an excellent resource!