Many roads lead to N=2 Seiberg-Witten theory

The Seiberg-Witten solution plays a central role in the study of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories. As such, it provides a proving ground for a wide variety of techniques to treat such problems. In this review we concentrate on the role of IIA string theory/M theory and the Dijkgraaf-Vafa matrix model, though integrable models and microscopic instanton calculations are also of considerable importance in this subject.