GUIDELINE 4.20
Calculations
ABAP_BACKGROUND
In ABAP, the arithmetic operators
in arithmetic expressions are
used for numeric calculations. Alongside the operand format, the
dedicated ABAP keywords ADD , SUBTRACT , MULTIPLY and
DIVIDE are also used for the basic arithmetic operations.
ABAP_RULE
Using Operator Format
For calculations, use the operator format with the equals sign (=)
instead of the ABAP keyword format.
ABAP_DETAILS
Calculations with the statements ADD , SUBTRACT ,
MULTIPLY , and DIVIDE are often more difficult to read than the
corresponding operator format. Calculations other than the basic
arithmetic operations cannot be expressed by ABAP keywords in any case.
Exception
The command format allows the use of
chained statements , which can be useful in these special cases:
ADD increment TO: sum_individual,
sum_total.
If arithmetic operations are in the form a = a + 1 , where the
target variable and one of the operands are identical, using the
statements ADD , SUBTRACT and so on has the advantage of
being easier on the eye, especially when the name of the target variable
is relatively long:
SUBTRACT 1 FROM reference- structured_attribute-component.
It is immediately clear to the observer that the value of the specified
variables is reduced by one. This may not be the case for the operator
format, if it is not straightaway obvious that the target variable and
one of the operands are identical. In such cases you can and should
ignore the above rule. The primary concern is the readability of the
source code.
Bad example
The following source code shows a multiplication using the statement
MULTIPLY .
MULTIPLY n1 by n2.
Good example
The following source code shows the same example as above, but in the
more compact operator format.
n1 = n1 * n2 .
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