ABAP vs. COBOL vs. Java vs. JavaScript Comparison Chart

ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is SAP’s proprietary fourth‑generation programming language, purpose‑built for mass data processing in SAP business applications. Utilized within SAP NetWeaver, it enables companies running SAP ERP and S/4 HANA to tailor systems precisely to their needs. ABAP is a multi‑paradigm language that supports procedural, object‑oriented, and other programming styles. It can seamlessly interoperate with languages such as Java, JavaScript, and SAPUI5. ABAP embraced object orientation with release 4.6C (2000) and saw even greater efficiency gains in ABAP 7.4/7.5, cutting code length by up to 50% via richer syntax, enhanced Open SQL, ABAP Managed Database Procedures, and Core Data Services (CDS) Views. The arrival of SAP HANA in 2011 shifted much processing into the in‑memory database layer, enabling real‑time operations and unlocking powerful new programming possibilities.

The Java™ Programming Language is a general-purpose, concurrent, strongly typed, class-based object-oriented language. It is normally compiled to the bytecode instruction set and binary format defined in the Java Virtual Machine Specification. In the Java programming language, all source code is first written in plain text files ending with the .java extension. Those source files are then compiled into .class files by the javac compiler. A .class file does not contain code that is native to your processor; it instead contains bytecodes — the machine language of the Java Virtual Machine1 (Java VM). The java launcher tool then runs your application with an instance of the Java Virtual Machine.