  High-order finite difference methods are efficient, easy to program, scales
well in multiple dimensions and can be modified locally for various reasons
(such as shock treatment for example). The main drawback have been the
complicated and sometimes even mysterious stability treatment at boundaries and
interfaces required for a stable scheme. The research on summation-by-parts
operators and weak boundary conditions during the last 20 years have removed
this drawback and now reached a mature state. It is now possible to construct
stable and high order accurate multi-block finite difference schemes in a
systematic building-block-like manner. In this paper we will review this
development, point out the main contributions and speculate about the next
lines of research in this area.
