Recent progress in femtosecond pulse generation, chirped pulse amplification(CPA), optical parametric amplification (OPA), optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA), super-continuum is reviewed. Both physics and techniques for generating extremely short (< 5 fs) pulses from Ti:s laser systems are discussed. The importance of carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stabilization of such ultrashort pulses has been realized in a series of high field science. The techniques used for stabilizing such pulses are reviewed. Finally, applications of such short and well-controlled femtosecond pulses to generating high harmonics in soft x-ray regime and consequently attosecond xuv pulses are discussed. Future attosecond spectroscopy study is briefly speculated.