Over the past two decades a variety of techniques have been used to study the atmospheres of supernovae through spectrum synthesis. Here I will
concentrate my talk on two applications, SYNOW and PHOENIX. SYNOW is a highly parameterized, very fast synthesis code which treats line formation
in the Sobolev approximation. It's primary use is for line identification and velocity studies. PHOENIX is a fully relativistic, non-local
thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) general stellar atmosphere and spectral synthesis code. It has been used to study the atmospheres of brown dwarfs, cool stars, novae and supernovae as well as active galactic nuclei and extra-solar planets. In this talk I will describe these codes and their
accomplishments, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each and what the future has in store for them.
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