title: Typing field-symbols with ANY or DATA
body: <p>I'm currently learning ABAP and wanted to know what is the difference between the following ways of defining a field symbol?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Method 1</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>FIELD-SYMBOLS &lt;fs&gt; TYPE data.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Method 2</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>FIELD-SYMBOLS &lt;fs&gt; TYPE any.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I understand that both are typed generically and that the data type will be assigned at runtime.  What I don't understand is how the two are different (or if they are at all).</p>