  An elementary introduction is given to the problem of black hole entropy as
formulated by Bekenstein and Hawking. The information theoretic basis of
Bekenstein's formulation is briefly reviewed and compared with Hawking's
approach. The issue of calculating the entropy by actual counting of
microstates is taken up next within two currently popular approaches to quantum
gravity, viz., string theory and canonical quantum gravity. The treatment of
the former assay is confined to a few remarks, mainly of a critical nature,
while some of the computational techniques of the latter approach are
elaborated. We conclude by trying to find commonalities between these two
rather disparate directions of work.
