A small tribute to Innovation

I believe myself to be an innovator...a great developer...someone that goes beyond to make the impossible...but...there's always someone else making things that to me...seem impossible...

This is a small tribute to those people who had motivate me and always will...in no particular order...some of my all time heroes...

Ivan Femia - abap2xlsx - Generate your professional Excel spreadsheet from ABAP

I remember, a couple of years ago that I need to developer a really complex ALV report...that seems impossible to build...so my first thought was to use OLE and build it as an Excel file...I had done that before, but it was slow and buggy...somehow...like send from heaven...abap2xlsx came down to me and hit me in the face...it was totally awesome! How this guy Ivan was? How could he build something like this? It was just what I needed! I quickly install it, make a short report and show it to the functional...she love it as well...and I start working on the real report...after some hard work (and I'm proud to say that I even made my small contribution to the project) the report was finished and really shining...the customer love it and asked for more...really awesome...

Gregor Wolf - Community Project ZGEOCODE

It's really hard and even maybe a blasphemy to name Mr. Wolf and show only one blog...Gregor has contribute (and he's still doing it) to so many community projects...that it's think it's fair to make this analogy..."Gregor Wolf is to the community, what the flight tables are to every ERP installation". He's just an amazing guy with the biggest heart...and ZGEOCODE is just an example of what he's capable of...pure magic...

Juergen Schmerder - New from SAP Research: Blue Ruby - a Ruby VM in ABAP

Juergen doesn't blog as much as I would like him to do...but he do...you gotta hold on your chair...Blue Ruby was to me...a revelation...almost made me cry when I read about it...I couldn't believe that something like that could happen in the ABAP world...and while it didn't lasted too long...Blue Ruby will be always in my heart...

Thomas Jung - New ABAP Editor Backport!

Talk about Thomas, is talk about raw programming energy...this guy is so good, you can't believe he's a regular human person...when he wrote about porting the new ABAP Editor to older releases was like being blind and open your eyes for the first time...or waking up from the Matrix...whatever you like...Thomas has been the king of ABAP, BSP, WebDynpro and now SAP HANA...talking about SAP and not mention Thomas should be a crime...because this guy has contribute so much, that I could never speak talking about him...just amazing!

Piers Harding - Scripting - Whats your fancy - Perl, Python or Ruby?

Piers is and always will be my totally and complete hero...I mean...he created connectors RFC connector for Perl, Ruby and Python...how crazy is that?! You know why I learned Ruby and Python? Because of Piers! Sure I did...it was because his RFC connectors that I said to myself..."Dude...you like Scripting Languages...you like PHP...but this guy is offering a whole new world with Ruby and Python...go get them!"...but the lovely story doesn't end there...you know that I have dedicated myself to promote the integration of SAP HANA and R in many blogs...and because my current title, I haven't done any ABAP in more than a year...well...Piers created an RFC connector for R too! I couldn't believe it when I saw it...and one of my biggest achievements and something that will make proud forever, is that I worked very closed to him to create the Windows version of the R RFC connector...it was one of my "Wayne's World" moments...

Daniel McWeeney and Ed Herrmann - SAPlink One Week, One New Version -- UPDATE

I remember...that a long time ago...in my first years in the ABAP world...my team needed to make a backup of an SAP system...so we had to copy and paste tables and programs in notepads to reproduce them on a newer system (Looking back...I could say...WTF?!)...anyway...at that time I decided to create a couple of applications to automated the process...ABAP applications that would read all the Z tables and programs and create notepad files that could be easily ported into a new system...some years later...SAPLink saw the light...it was an amazing program...not a couple...but a single program that did what my program did...only...100 times better...in single XML file you could have a complete application (The main program, includes, tables, structures, etc)...these guys, that sadly are not involved with the community any more (We miss you guys), create the tool that every abaper in the world was looking for...a simple application that in my humble opinion...changed the world of ABAP consulting...

To finish this blog, I just would like to say..."Never stop dreaming...never stop creating...never stop being innovative...because your passion, it's what makes our world go round"...

Greetings,

Blag.