  In the last ten years significant advances have been made in our
understanding and ability to compute and predict properties of ferroelectrics
and piezoelectrics using fundamental physics. Phase diagrams, electromechanical
and elastic properties, and effects of defects and surfaces are now amenable to
computation. Most importantly, new techniques have been developed, and new
understanding of the meaning of polarization in dielectrics has been developed.
Prospects for the future are discussed.
