Core Data Services, or CDS, is a “semantically rich” Data Definition Language (or DDL) created by SAP. It provides an easy to understand and reusable tool that ABAP developers can utilize to execute the “code pushdown” paradigm. CDS has evolved into different variants, but the ABAP developer should chiefly be concerned with two specific ones…The lesser used option is HANA CDS, the database language that can be used to create tables, views, and structures on the HANA database itself. Views created in HANA can be consumed from the Netweaver AS using Native SQL. The second and most important variant of CDS that should concern ABAPers is the ABAP CDS. While significant differences have evolved between the two variants — for example, SAP HANA-based CDS obviously operates on SAP HANA, while ABAP-based CDS operates on most major database platforms as well as SAP HANA, and each has a different type of repository for development objects — both variants pursue the same goal: to represent central data definitions as a common basis for application development of all kinds.
ABAP for HANA
Chances are that if you work with SAP ABAP, you have heard of SAP HANA by now. You’ve probably heard that it’s “the future” and a “game changer.”