Improving the Quality of ABAP Code

Chapter 1:  Why Object Orientated Programming is a must for Code Quality

Chapter Goal: This chapter explains the practical (as opposed to theoretical) benefits Object Orientated(OO) programming can bring the reader, and why it is a must to really improve your code quality.

Chapter 2:  Why Test-Driven Development is a must for Code Quality

Chapter Goal: This chapter explains to the reader the very real benefit this approach can bring to the quality of your code, and how TDD could be viewed as being more about code quality than testing. The next three chapters in fact comprise the “Blue Phase” of TDD.

Chapter 3:  Clarity – the 1st Pillar of Code Quality

Chapter Goal: This chapter and the next two first explain some theoretical concepts about an area of code quality, and then demonstrate the practical benefit to the reader of following that theory with a large number of real-world examples. This chapter deals with the concept of clarity which many programmers attach zero importance to, not realizing they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Chapter 4:  Stability – the 2^nd Pillar of Code Quality

Chapter Goal: This chapter shows the reader how stability problems can be caught by tests, and how to make programs “fault tolerant” - an area which is often ignored.

Chapter 5: Performance – the 3^rd Pillar of Code Quality

Chapter Goal: In this chapter the reader learns how once the code is clear and correct how to make it run as fast as possible by highlighting dozens of common performance traps in code that programmers often fall into.

Chapter 6: User Friendliness – ensuring UI Quality

Chapter Goal: In this chapter the reader will learn how to increase the quality of the Ui regardless of the technology used, and as with the previous chapters a large number of concrete examples will be shown.

Chapter 7: User Exits – Defusing a Potential Time Bomb

Chapter Goal: In this chapter the reader learns the safest way to approach this task and how to ensure the robustness of the custom code in the user exit and how to prevent it breaking the behaviour of the surrounding standard SAP code.

Chapter 8: Ensuring Code Runs in S/4HANA

Chapter Goal: In the past SAP ensured that ABAP code was always 100% downward compatible so that after an upgrade to a new version your custom code always kept working. This is not the case when moving to S/4HANA as it is in effect a totally new product. In this chapter the reader will learn how to ensure their custom code is of a high enough quality to keep working after a move to S/4HANA.

Chapter 9: Ensuring Code Runs in ABAP in the Cloud

Chapter Goal: In this chapter the reader will learn why that is the case and how to ensure their code is structured in such a way that when and if the time comes the changes they will need to their custom code will be as painless as possible.

Chapter 10: Creating your own custom ATC Checks

Chapter Goal: SAP provides some fantastic tools for automated static code checking, the most prominent of which is the ATC (ABAP test Cockpit). However, there are bound to be things that any given organization needs to check for which are 100% specific to their needs. Such checks will not be in the standard so in this chapter the reader will learn how to code such checks themselves and have them seamlessly integrate with the standard SAP ATC tool.