  Group algebras have been used in the context of Coding Theory since the
beginning of the latter, but not in its full power. The work of Ferraz and
Polcino Milies entitled Idempotents in group algebras and minimal abelian codes
(Finite Fields and their Applications, 13, (2007) 382-393) gave origin to many
thesis and papers linking these two subjects. In these works, the techniques of
group algebras are mainly brought into play for the computing of the
idempotents that generate the minimal codes and the minimum weight of such
codes. In this paper I summarize the main results of the work done by doctorate
students and research partners of Polcino Milies and Ferraz.
