Dennis Drapeau asks:
I would like to know how to save(to disk) the groups that GAP creates so that I
do not have to wait for GAP to redo any lengthy computations everytime I start u
p the program.
The simplest thing you can do is use the PrintTo() and AppendTo() functions to
print the group to a file. For example:
gap> g := Group((1,2)(3,4),(1,3)(2,4)); Group( (1,2)(3,4), (1,3)(2,4) ) gap> PrintTo("filename","g := ",g,";\n"); gap> Unbind(g); gap> g; Error, Variable: 'g' must have a value gap> Read("filename"); gap> g; Group( (1,2)(3,4), (1,3)(2,4) ) gap> quit; 11.820u 2.690s 1:24.83 17.1% 0+3865k 85+4io 83pf+0w {keith:584} cat filename g := Group( (1,2)(3,4), (1,3)(2,4) ); {keith:585}
This will work for permutation groups or matrix groups, for example, but not so
well for finitely-presented groups. You also lose some of the extra information
that GAP can store in the group record, which can take time to recover.
Steve