Illustrator is a vector illustration program. It is, along with Macromedia's Freehand, a powerful tool for making bold graphics.

Tools

Object Selector (Selection Tool)
Path Selector (Direct Selection Tool)
Pen Tool
Ellipse Tool/Polygon/Star/Spiral Tool
Rectangle/Rounded Rectangle Tool
Paintbrush
Pencil/Smooth/Erase
Rotator
Scale/Reshape Tool
Shear Tool/Reflect Tool
Free Transform Tool
Blend Tool/Autotrace Tool
Graph Tools
Gradient Mesh Tool
Gradient Tool
Eyedropper/Paintbucket Tool
Scissors/Knife Tool
Hand/Page/Measure Tool
Magnifying Glass

Pallattes

Color/Gradient/Swatches
Stroke/Brushes
Layers
Align/Pathfinder
Character/Paragraph