Gromov introduced the analytic method of pseudoholomorphic curves into the study of symplectic topology in the mid 80's and then Floer broke the conformal symmetry of the equation by twisting the equation by Hamiltonian vector fields.
We survey how the techniques of pseudoholomorphic curves have evolved from the construction of numerical invariants of Gromov-Witten invariants, via the homological invariant of Floer homology and to its categorification of Fukaya category as the basic homological algebra of symplectic algebraic topology.
If time permits, we will also mention a few applications of the machinery to problems of symplectic topology.