  This note completes a talk given at the conference Curves over Finite Fields:
past, present and future celebrating the publication the book {\em Rational
Points on Curves over Finite Fields by J.-P. Serre and organised at Centro de
ciencias de Benasque in june 2021. It discusses a part of the history of
algebraic geometry codes together with some of their recent applications. A
particular focus is done on the "multiplicative" structure of these codes, i.e.
their behaviour with respect to the component wise product. Some open questions
are raised and discussed.
