Advanced Business Language (ABL) is a high-level procedural programming language that helps developers to develop applications optionally using its own integrated relational database and programming tool. These applications are portable across computing systems and allow access to various popular data sources without having to learn the underlying data access methods. This means that the end-user of these products can be unaware of the underlying architecture.
By combining a fourth generation language and relational database, ABL empowers application developers to manage relational data in a way that models how the business operates. A programmer and even end users can do rapid prototyping using the integrated and GUI tools of the development environment.
ABL is a versatile and extraordinarily powerful tool. Not only can you use it to program applications, but you can build many of the tools that you use to help create and support those applications. Most of the development tools you use to develop OpenEdge® applications are themselves written in ABL.
For more information on ABL, see the guide OpenEdge Getting Started: ABL Essentials.
