These are the lecture notes for a short course on tensor categories. The
coverage in these notes is relatively non-technical, focussing on the essential
ideas. They are meant to be accessible for beginners, but it is hoped that also
some of the experts will find something interesting in them.
Once the basic definitions are given, the focus is mainly on k-linear
categories with finite dimensional hom-spaces. Connections with quantum groups
and low dimensional topology are pointed out, but these notes have no
pretension to cover the latter subjects at any depth. Essentially, these notes
should be considered as annotations to the extensive bibliography.Comment: 57 pages. Notes for a three-hour lecture course. Extensively revised,
updated and extended. To appear in Revista de la Uni\'on Matem\'atica
Argentin
