We consider the basic problems, notions and facts in the theory of entire functions of several variables, i. e. functions J(z) holomorphic in the entire n space en (i. e. JEH( 1 variables, as in the case n = 1, a central theme deals with questions of growth of functions and the distribu tion of their zeros. However, there are significant differences between the cases of one and several variables. In the first place there is the fact that for n 1 the zero set of an entire function is not discrete and therefore one has no analogue of a tool such as the canonical Weierstrass product, which is fundamental in the case n = 1. Second, for n> 1 there exist several different natural ways of exhausting the space