Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself ABAP/4 in 21 Days

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

I found the book EXTREMELY heavy on data dictionaries and internal tables, but VERY light (read - non existing) on external file imports or exports. It didn't have a section on BDC's. Functions & parameters were at the very end of the book (2/21 days!). One of the things I found most frustrating was that the book never indicated the version of SAP it was running on. While not a deal breaker, screen cams were hard to follow because they didn't look anything like my 4.5B system at work! If you want to learn about data I/O & reporting, I would suggest spending your money on "Introduction to ABAP/4 - Programming for SAP" instead.

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.

This book is extremely well written and provides a good basic introduction to ABAP and the fundamental development tools in R/3. I was disappointed however to reach day 21 without creating any interactive screens and having no mention of creating batch inputs. If this were expanded to 42 days it would definetely get 5 stars. With this book, SAP Help, and the Gareth M. De Bruyn book Advanced ABAP Programming for SAP most of what I needed was available but sometimes a struggle to find.

Greenwood's done a great job of getting me started in ABAP/4. I went through the material from cover-to-cover, and don't regret the time spent. However, I feel the book suffered a bit from the strictures of the "21-Days" format. I think I detect some severe editing in later chapters; chapters where I needed the same thorough treatment as in the earlier data dictionary material. This is a good one to start with, but plan on buying more books. In particular, don't look for any mention of SAPscript or dialog programming here, and don't try to use it as a language reference. Caveats notwithstanding, I'll recommend it to the next rookie.

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.

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!

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.

I felt that I was well on my way to learning something new and useful but when I loaded the software from the CD provided, I realized that this was not to be. I contacted customer service and asked them to send me the proper information. Several months later and I still haven't gotten past day one. I recommend that you evaluate the software of the learning CD prior to your purchase. Oh, and make sure that you have Lotus Screen Cam, or render the whole thing useless.

Very good for beginners, sometimes better than online help for advanced

I have started with this book my ABAP adventure. This book gives me overview of all-important ABAP command and showed me some good ABAP programming technique. Later when I can't find something in on-line help I am coming back to this book and I can always find what I need. I like very much a part, which explain how internal tables are working.