Published at October 16, 2025by Jörg Müller

New Course on ABAP Objects

We have added a new course on ABAP Objects to our program. It is already listed in our training catalog and can be requested right away.

This new course exists because customers approached us and asked for exactly such a course. A course to prepare for the "new world" before diving deeper into the world of CDS, RAP, SAPUI5, and the like. For these new topics, we at Brandeis already have several suitable training offerings in our program.

We frequently find that many customers are still "stuck" in the world of SAP ECC and have hardly any chance to try out the many new concepts around modern SAP development themselves. Even when modern SAP systems are already accessible, time is constantly short, and knowledge that you cannot apply is quickly forgotten again. We wanted to change that...

In the next sections you will find some background information about the new course and how it came about. Anyone only interested in the course content and who has questions about it can jump straight to the end of the blog.

Starting Situation and Challenges

We looked into this topic very intensively internally, and as a new trainer on the Brandeis team, I took on the task of designing a new course on ABAP Objects that perhaps does a few things differently. I myself worked in project business for many years, was "right at the front," but also kept seeing the "ancient" SAP world every now and then. That is why I believe I know the target audience: SAP developers who have to spend most of their time saving the (old) world and who are actually interested in the new world. But they hardly find any time to really take an intensive look at the new tools and concepts.

ABAP Objects is actually very well suited to build a bridge here: compared to the old ABAP systems on SAP Basis 7.40, there are hardly any differences when it comes to object-oriented programming with SAP ABAP. The bigger challenges tend to be getting used to the new development tools such as Eclipse with the ABAP Development Tools (ADT), understanding and being able to use the modern ABAP syntax, and, on top of that, keeping an eye on the future with Clean Core and the new ABAP Cloud development model.

And then, with the Cloud around SAP BTP or the modern front-end developments around FIORI and SAPUI5, a great many other technologies, concepts, and development tools land on an SAP developer's desk. Feeling overwhelmed by this is understandable to me and a quite natural defensive reaction.

Our Considerations

Of course, there are already a number of ABAP Objects courses from SAP and other providers with which you can get started with object-oriented programming in SAP ABAP. Here you often find rather the old world (e.g., SAPGUI based, reports, local classes) and, again and again, the famous "flight data models."

How do we want to differentiate our own Brandeis training for ABAP Objects from these? What do we want to do differently?

Most people will surely be familiar with the saying "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" (Wikipedia)?

What if that is exactly our problem in the area of SAP development? If you don't know the alternatives, you will keep working in old patterns and pile up even more technical debt (Wikipedia). The "new" does not always have to be better.

For me it is very important that SAP developers can really engage intensively with the new development tool Eclipse. I find it just as important to understand the future modern ABAP world well enough to be able to form your own opinion. For me, this also includes a basic understanding of Clean Core, what SAP aims to achieve with it, and how you could or should respond to it. And perhaps get started promptly with technologies that are already available in older SAP systems - e.g., with ABAP Objects.

In the modern SAP world, we increasingly encounter object-oriented concepts and, of course, frameworks or extension concepts based on ABAP classes and interfaces. Object-oriented concepts are well suited for implementing an API First development approach. In SAP systems, we now have very many object-oriented APIs that replace the familiar function modules and are often well hidden.

What Actually Is "Object Orientation"?

For me there is a big difference between object-oriented programming and ABAP Objects. The latter is SAP's "toolbox" for being able to program in an object-oriented way in the ABAP programming language. The word "object orientation" contains "the orientation." Equivalent to perspective, goal, focus, and to be interpreted similarly to customer orientation, service orientation, process orientation, or - propagated by SAP since the beginning of 2025 - data orientation.

Object orientation therefore calls for the perspective of the object. Quote from Wikipedia: "Object-oriented programming (OOP for short) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of object orientation." So it perhaps also requires a different way of thinking, a different mindset, or something like that.

The promise of object-oriented programming is that, with this different perspective, you can better represent reality and thus solve complex challenges more easily. Actually exactly what we need in the SAP environment: our world is becoming more and more complex and often no longer fits our familiar ways of working.

To illustrate this: the complexity of life in the forest can be viewed from a "bird's-eye view" (a top-down view of the overall system) or precisely from the perspective of the objects involved, e.g., the individual ant.

The object-oriented core concepts: encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance, and polymorphism help us look at our reality from a different point of view and thereby perhaps solve challenges that we cannot get to grips with using our previous approaches.

The focus of the Brandeis ABAP Objects training is therefore on object orientation and on how you can solve complex challenges in SAP ABAP with the "ABAP Objects toolbox."

Course Information

It was not at all easy to pack everything there is to say about ABAP Objects into a simple course with a clear thread and small, simple steps. We discarded the concepts several times and ultimately concentrated on what we consider important: an understanding of object orientation and the application of object-oriented programming in SAP ABAP in areas and scenarios that we will actually encounter in everyday work.

In addition, we wanted to place a focus on Eclipse. That means we work completely without SAPGUI, which was a challenge. But it was worth it, and for all developers from the old world it is the opportunity to work very intensively with Eclipse and, along the way, learn a few (more) tricks that will make the switch easier. Furthermore, we have built information on Clean Core, modern ABAP syntax, and other information about the future of ABAP into the course.

Training Objectives

1. Understand the object-oriented core concepts
2. Understand object-oriented ABAP code
3. Be able to apply object orientation in SAP ABAP
4. Understand and be able to apply typical design patterns
5. Get to know the necessary SAP tools
6. Get used to the new development environment Eclipse ADT
7. Get to know modern ABAP
8. Get fit for S/4 HANA and Clean Core
9. Spark interest in modern SAP technologies such as CDS, RAP, and others

Exercise Scenario

For ABAP Objects Part 1 and 2, we built the exercise examples on the scenario "Dice Casino":

• The complex real-world situation in a dice casino is simulated
• There are many different dice and players who want to play various games against each other
• The game master supervises the game and is supported by the assistant

By applying object orientation, this scenario becomes manageable.

Structure and Content

The originally planned complete ABAP Objects training ultimately turned into three parts, which can be put together completely as one training, each part on its own, or even as an individual training.

ABAP Objects - Part 1

Duration: 2 days

This part is aimed above all at ABAP developers switching from the old to the new SAP ABAP world. We assume basic knowledge of ABAP (e.g., report programming).

Content:

• Motivation for object orientation
• Modern ABAP and Eclipse
• Basics of ABAP Objects
• Object-oriented core concepts: encapsulation and inheritance
• Constructors and interfaces

Learning objectives:

• Object-oriented thinking
• Understand the goals of modern ABAP and Clean Core
• Be able to work with the Eclipse development environment
• Read and understand object-oriented ABAP code
• Understand and be able to apply simple object orientation
• Develop first object-oriented ABAP programs

Exercise examples:

• Everything revolves around dice
• At the end of Part 1, the participants play "dice" against each other
• From the object-oriented perspective, each die can "tell" a great deal about itself

ABAP Objects - Part 2

Duration: 2 days

Part 2 is the continuation of Part 1 and goes considerably deeper into applied object orientation with SAP ABAP. That means knowledge of working with Eclipse and ABAP classes and interfaces is already assumed here.

Content:

• Abstract classes
• Object-oriented core concepts: polymorphism and abstraction
• Static methods and attributes
• Typical design patterns
• API First and API design
• Other topics
• Practical scenarios

Learning objectives:

• Confidently understand and be able to apply object-oriented code
• Use modern ABAP syntax
• Object-oriented architecture of your own software solutions
• Ensure the reusability of ABAP code
• Guidance and use cases for Clean Core and the ABAP Cloud development model

Exercise examples:

• the dice scenario still offers plenty for object orientation
• the exercise examples are devoted above all to abstraction and the interplay of various different objects
• Again, participants play against each other

ABAP Objects - Part 3

Duration: 1-2 days

Part 3 is a very practical part and is intended to deepen what has been learned so far. The focus is on API design and using object orientation for your own project tasks.

We want to use Part 3 to work together as a team on a complex task. What is to be implemented there can be agreed upon in advance. We bring along a few prepared ideas. Perhaps we will also implement your topics as part of a small hackathon?

Content:

• Suggestions from project practice
• Agreed practical scenarios

Learning objectives:

• Conception and implementation of your own APIs
• Building your own object-oriented toolboxes and frameworks
• Working in a team
• Suggestions for your own project practice

Exercise scenario: Which practical scenarios can be implemented together with you depends a little on whether all technical prerequisites can be met on your side.

The following practical scenarios would be conceivable:

• Object-oriented project toolbox
• Object-oriented interface design
• Event-driven ABAP data products
• AI RAG scenario "Talk to Your SAP Documents" ("Retrieval-augmented generation, RAG for short, Wikipedia)

We are open to challenges here. Get in touch with us.

If you still have questions about our trainings, you may find the answers on our FAQ page: https://www.brandeis.de/blog/training-faq/?