  The current status of measurements of the nucleon structure functions and
their understanding is reviewed. The fixed target experiments E665, CCFR and
NMC and the HERA experiments H1 and ZEUS are discussed in some detail. The
extraction of parton momentum distribution functions from global fits is
described, with particular attention paid to much improved information on the
gluon momentum distribution. The status of alpha_s measurements from deep
inelastic data is reviewed. Models and non-perturbative approaches for the
parton input distributions are outlined. The impact on the phenomenology of QCD
of the data at very low values of the Bjorken x variable is discussed in
detail. Recent advances in the understanding of the transition from deep
inelastic scattering to photoproduction are summarised. Some brief comments are
made on the recent HERA measurements of the ep NC and CC cross-sections at very
high Q2.
