The article reviews the state of art of the computer generated holography. Sec. 2 deals with the various coding schemes to record both the amplitude and phase of the field at the hologram plane. Special emphasis is given to those coding schemes which are used for the generation of binary holograms. The theory of discrete Fourier transform (DFT) hologram and its optical reconstruction are treated in Sec. 3. The introdution of randomizer in front of the object while computing the D.F.T. and its influence on the reconstructed image have been discussed. Sec. 4 contains some of the major applications of the computer generated holograms (CGH). For examples, the generation of filters for coherent optical processing, fabrication of CGH’s for testing unconventional optics and GGH’s as generalised optical elements etc. have been discussed in detail.