JavaScript for ABAP Programmers

Chapter 2 - Data Types

Chris Whealy / Technology RIG
 ABAP JavaScript
Data typing Strong Weak
Syntax Similar to COBOL Derived mainly from Java with some influence from C
Variable Scope Block scope Lexical (or function) scope
“Function” No concept of a function as a Functions are 1st class citizens.
Concept data object That is, a function is an object with “an executable part”
Inheritance Model Class based Referential (or Prototypical)
Programming Style Strictly Imperative Both Imperative and Functional
Strongly Typed vs. Weakly Typed Languages

There are two schools of thought for determining how data should be stored in variables:
• ABAP uses Strong (or Static) Typing
Apart from field symbols, all ABAP variables
must have their data type defined at declaration
time

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 3

Strongly Typed vs. Weakly Typed Languages

There are two schools of thought for determining how data should be stored in variables:
• ABAP uses Strong (or Static) Typing • JavaScript uses Weak (or Dynamic) Typing
Apart from field symbols, all ABAP variables A variable takes on the data type of whatever
must have their data type defined at declaration value it currently holds
time

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 4

Strongly Typed vs. Weakly Typed Languages

There are two schools of thought for determining how data should be stored in variables:
• ABAP uses Strong (or Static) Typing • JavaScript uses Weak (or Dynamic) Typing
Apart from field symbols, all ABAP variables A variable takes on the data type of whatever
must have their data type defined at declaration value it currently holds
time
• Pros and Cons of Strong Typing
+ Data type errors can be trapped at compile time
- Rigid type systems reduce language flexibility

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 5

Strongly Typed vs. Weakly Typed Languages

There are two schools of thought for determining how data should be stored in variables:
• ABAP uses Strong (or Static) Typing • JavaScript uses Weak (or Dynamic) Typing
Apart from field symbols, all ABAP variables A variable takes on the data type of whatever
must have their data type defined at declaration value it currently holds
time
• Pros and Cons of Strong Typing • Pros and Cons of Weak Typing
+ Data type errors can be trapped at compile time - Data type errors can only be trapped at runtime
- Rigid type systems reduce language flexibility + Flexible type system allows for a highly dynamic
style of coding

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 6

Strongly Typed vs. Weakly Typed Languages

There are two schools of thought for determining how data should be stored in variables:
• ABAP uses Strong (or Static) Typing • JavaScript uses Weak (or Dynamic) Typing
Apart from field symbols, all ABAP variables A variable takes on the data type of whatever
must have their data type defined at declaration value it currently holds
time
• Pros and Cons of Strong Typing • Pros and Cons of Weak Typing
+ Data type errors can be trapped at compile time - Data type errors can only be trapped at runtime
- Rigid type systems reduce language flexibility + Flexible type system allows for a highly dynamic
style of coding

Compiled languages (E.G. ABAP, Java, C) tend to use strong typing, whereas interpreted scripting
languages (E.G. JavaScript, Ruby, Python) tend to use weak typing.

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 7

JavaScript Data Types: Overview

In JavaScript, there are only 6 data types.

At any one time, a variable holds a value that belongs to one and only one of the following data types:

Data Type The value of this variable…

Null Is explicitly defined as having no value
Undefined Cannot be determined
Boolean Is either true or false
String Is an immutable collection of zero or more Unicode characters
Number Can be used in mathematical operations
Object Is an unordered collection of name/value pairs

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 8

JavaScript Data Types 1/3

There are some reserved words for referencing the special data types:

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Special
null; // Indicates an explicit non-value
undefined; // Indicates an indeterminate value (E.G. a variable is declared but not initialised)

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 9

JavaScript Data Types 1/3

There are some reserved words for referencing the special data types and the Boolean data types:

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Special
null; // Indicates an explicit non-value
undefined; // Indicates an indeterminate value (E.G. a variable is declared but not initialised)

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Boolean
true;
false;

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 10

JavaScript Data Types 1/3

There are some reserved words for referencing the special data types and the Boolean data types.
After that, variables simply take on the value of whatever data they have been assigned.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Special
null; // Indicates an explicit non-value
undefined; // Indicates an indeterminate value (E.G. a variable is declared but not initialised)

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Boolean
true;
false;

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// String – contains zero or more Unicode characters
'Bazinga!'; // Can be delimited by either single quotes
""; // Or double quotes

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 11

JavaScript Data Types 2/3

Numbers can be specified in either decimal or integer notation.

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Number
3.1415926; // Stored as 64-bit floating point number
1; // Be careful, this is stored as floating point value, not an integer!

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 12

JavaScript Data Types 2/3

But be careful! All the usual problems associated with floating point numbers still exist in JavaScript.

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Number
3.1415926; // Stored as 64-bit floating point number
1; // Be careful, this is stored as floating point value, not an integer!

// Warning! All the usual problems associated with trying to represent decimal values in binary
// floating point format still apply in JavaScript!
var result = 0.1 + 0.2;
result; //  0.30000000000000004, not 0.3 (Decimal 0.1 has no exact binary equivalent)

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 13

JavaScript Data Types 2/3

There are two special values for handling the results of an illegal mathematical operation.

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Number
3.1415926; // Stored as 64-bit floating point number
1; // Be careful, this is stored as floating point value, not an integer!

// Warning! All the usual problems associated with trying to represent decimal values in binary
// floating point format still apply in JavaScript!
var result = 0.1 + 0.2;
result; //  0.30000000000000004, not 0.3 (Decimal 0.1 has no exact binary equivalent)

// Special numerical values that could be returned in the event of illegal mathematical operations
// (These values are actually stored as properties of the Global Object)
NaN; // 'Not a Number' E.G. 1/'cat'  NaN
Infinity; // The result of division by zero

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 14

JavaScript Data Types 3/3

In addition to the basic data type of Object, JavaScript provides several built-in objects that behave as
if they were composite data types. E.G. Array, Date, Function, Math and RegEx etc.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Object. Zero or more unordered name:value pairs of any data type delimited by curly braces
{ pet1: 'cat',
pet2: 'dog' };

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 15

JavaScript Data Types 3/3

In addition to the basic data type of Object, JavaScript provides several built-in objects that behave as
if they were composite data types. E.G. Array, Date, Function, Math and RegEx etc.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Object. Zero or more unordered name:value pairs of any data type delimited by curly braces
{ pet1: 'cat',
pet2: 'dog' };

// Array object. Zero or more values of any data type accessed by a numerical, 0 based index
[1,2,3,4,5];

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 16

JavaScript Data Types 3/3

In addition to the basic data type of Object, JavaScript provides several built-in objects that behave as
if they were composite data types. E.G. Array, Date, Function, Math and RegEx etc.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Object. Zero or more unordered name:value pairs of any data type delimited by curly braces
{ pet1: 'cat',
pet2: 'dog' };

// Array object. Zero or more values of any data type accessed by a numerical, 0 based index
[1,2,3,4,5];

// Function object. A special object that has both properties and executable content
function() { /* statements */ }

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 17

JavaScript Data Types 3/3

In addition to the basic data type of Object, JavaScript provides several built-in objects that behave as
if they were composite data types. E.G. Array, Date, Function, Math and RegEx etc.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Object. Zero or more unordered name:value pairs of any data type delimited by curly braces
{ pet1: 'cat',
pet2: 'dog' };

// Array object. Zero or more values of any data type accessed by a numerical, 0 based index
[1,2,3,4,5];

// Function object. A special object that has both properties and executable content
function() { /* statements */ }

// Math object. Contains many useful mathematical functions and constants

Math.PI; //  3.141592653589793

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 18

JavaScript Data Types 3/3

In addition to the basic data type of Object, JavaScript provides several built-in objects that behave as
if they were composite data types. E.G. Array, Date, Function, Math and RegEx etc.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Object. Zero or more unordered name:value pairs of any data type delimited by curly braces
{ pet1: 'cat',
pet2: 'dog' };

// Array object. Zero or more values of any data type accessed by a numerical, 0 based index
[1,2,3,4,5];

// Function object. A special object that has both properties and executable content
function() { /* statements */ }

// Math object. Contains many useful mathematical functions and constants

Math.PI; //  3.141592653589793

// Regular Expression Object. A tool for specifying and extracting patterns of text within a string

/^(?:([A-Za-z]+):)?(\/{0,3})([0-9.\-A-Za-z]+)(?::(\d+))?(?:\/([^?#]*))?(?:\?([^#]*))?(?:#(.*))?$/;

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 19

JavaScript Data Types 3/3

In addition to the basic data type of Object, JavaScript provides several built-in objects that behave as
if they were composite data types. E.G. Array, Date, Function, Math and RegEx etc.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Object. Zero or more unordered name:value pairs of any data type delimited by curly braces
{ pet1: 'cat',
pet2: 'dog' };

// Array object. Zero or more values of any data type accessed by a numerical, 0 based index
[1,2,3,4,5];

// Function object. A special object that has both properties and executable content
function() { /* statements */ }

// Math object. Contains many useful mathematical functions and constants

Math.PI; //  3.141592653589793

// Regular Expression Object. A tool for specifying and extracting patterns of text within a string
// Regular expressions are sometimes confused with Egyptian hieroglyphics... :-)

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 20

Variables and Data Types

In weakly typed languages such as JavaScript, there is no concept of declaring that a variable should hold data of
any particular type. The data type of a variable is determined simply by the value it currently holds.
// A weakly typed language means that data types are determined
// dynamically at runtime, not statically at design time

var whoAmI = 'Hello world'; // Variable 'whoAmI' is both declared & assigned a string value

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 21

Variables and Data Types

In weakly typed languages such as JavaScript, there is no concept of declaring that a variable should hold data of
any particular type. The data type of a variable is determined simply by the value it currently holds.
// A weakly typed language means that data types are determined
// dynamically at runtime, not statically at design time

var whoAmI = 'Hello world'; // Variable 'whoAmI' is both declared & assigned a string value

whoAmI = 1.61792; // Now it's a number

whoAmI = [1,2,3,4,5]; // Now it's an array

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 22

Variables and Data Types

In weakly typed languages such as JavaScript, there is no concept of declaring that a variable should hold data of
any particular type. The data type of a variable is determined simply by the value it currently holds.
// A weakly typed language means that data types are determined
// dynamically at runtime, not statically at design time

var whoAmI = 'Hello world'; // Variable 'whoAmI' is both declared & assigned a string value

whoAmI = 1.61792; // Now it's a number

whoAmI = [1,2,3,4,5]; // Now it's an array

whoAmI = true; // Now it's a Boolean

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 23

Variables and Data Types

In weakly typed languages such as JavaScript, there is no concept of declaring that a variable should hold data of
any particular type. The data type of a variable is determined simply by the value it currently holds.
// A weakly typed language means that data types are determined
// dynamically at runtime, not statically at design time

var whoAmI = 'Hello world'; // Variable 'whoAmI' is both declared & assigned a string value

whoAmI = 1.61792; // Now it's a number

whoAmI = [1,2,3,4,5]; // Now it's an array

whoAmI = true; // Now it's a Boolean

whoAmI = { // Now it's an object

someProperty: 'Hello world'
}

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 24

Variables and Data Types

In weakly typed languages such as JavaScript, there is no concept of declaring that a variable should hold data of
any particular type. The data type of a variable is determined simply by the value it currently holds.
// A weakly typed language means that data types are determined
// dynamically at runtime, not statically at design time

var whoAmI = 'Hello world'; // Variable 'whoAmI' is both declared & assigned a string value

whoAmI = 1.61792; // Now it's a number

whoAmI = [1,2,3,4,5]; // Now it's an array

whoAmI = true; // Now it's a Boolean

whoAmI = { // Now it's an object

someProperty: 'Hello world'
}

whoAmI = function() { }; // Now it's a...you get the idea

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 25

© 2015 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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