J2EE Developer Migrating to SAP/Netweaver

[Former Member]

I posted this question in the Java Programming section first. I apologize for the cross-posting. I didn't see this form first, or I would have posted here...

I am an experienced J2EE developer with over 3 years experience in writing JSPs, servlets, custom tag libraries, etc. I have written web applications that utilize SQL Server, MySQL & HSQLDB. In addition to the programming aspect I am also a pretty well rounded DBA with a healthy SQL background.

I tend to work strictly within the J2EE framework and don't use OR tools like Hibernate or Spring, nor other application frameworks like Struts, Tapestry or JSF. I have multiple custom tag libraries that I've written over the years that I use to speed up application development.

My typical development environment includes using Eclipse with the MyEclipse J2EE plug-in, using Tomcat (for web applications) or JBoss (for Enterprise applications) as the application servers.

I have been asked to join a firm writing J2EE applications (I assume including Portals with iView) but I have not experience with SAP. How steep do you believe would the learning curve be before being a productive developer in this area? What are the biggest differences between developing in a complete J2EE environment vs. developing within the SAP Netweaver environment?

Thanks for your assistance.

[Former Member]

Tom,

there are a few good books available which might ease it:

Java for ABAP developers written by some of the SAP folks (ISBN: 3-89842-147-3) published at Galileo Press (not sure about english version, you might want to check on your own)

Java Programming with SAP Web Application Server written by other SAP guys (ISBN 3-89842-523-1) published at Gelileo Press as well (also not sure about an english version)

Especially the last one is well worth to have a look at as it gives a good overview.

Regards M.

[Former Member]

As A Java developer I can tell you this:

There is no big diferences in terms of development tools.

The big deal is the SAP side, to understand hiw it wooks.

So, I beleive, your learning curve will be in this side, more than learning developement tools.

O hope this simple quetion helps to route your learning activities