  Solar flares are powerful radiations occuring in the Sun's atmosphere. They
are powered by magnetic reconnection, a phemonenon that can convert magnetic
energy into other forms of energy such as heat and kinetic energy, and it is
believed to be ubiquitous in the universe. With the ever increasing spatial and
temporal resolutions of solar observations, as well as numerical simulations
benefiting from increasing computer power, we can now probe into the nature and
the characteristics of magnetic reconnection in 3D to better understand its
consequences during eruptive flares in our star's atmosphere. We review in the
following the efforts made on different fronts to approach the problem of
magnetic reconnection. In particular, we will see how understanding the
magnetic topology in 3D helps locating the most probable regions for
reconnection to occur, how the current layer evolves in 3D and how reconnection
leads to the formation of flux ropes, plasmoids and flaring loops.
