  Motivated by recent progress in calculating field theory amplitudes, we study
applications of the basic ideas in these developments to the calculation of
amplitudes in string theory. We consider in particular both non-Abelian and
Abelian open superstring disk amplitudes in a flat space background, focusing
mainly on the four-dimensional case. The basic field theory ideas under
consideration split into three separate categories. In the first, we argue that
the calculation of alpha'-corrections to MHV open string disk amplitudes
reduces to the determination of certain classes of polynomials. This line of
reasoning is then used to determine the alpha'^3-correction to the MHV
amplitude for all multiplicities. A second line of attack concerns the
existence of an analog of CSW rules derived from the Abelian Dirac-Born-Infeld
action in four dimensions. We show explicitly that the CSW-like perturbation
series of this action is surprisingly trivial: only helicity conserving
amplitudes are non-zero. Last but not least, we initiate the study of BCFW
on-shell recursion relations in string theory. These should appear very
naturally as the UV properties of the string theory are excellent. We show that
all open four-point string amplitudes in a flat background at the disk level
obey BCFW recursion relations. Based on the naturalness of the proof and some
explicit results for the five-point gluon amplitude, it is expected that this
pattern persists for all higher point amplitudes and for the closed string.
