Frequently Asked Questions

General Obtaining GAP Installation Hardware/OS Usage Complaints Computing with GAP Programming GAP

1.General Questions

1.3: Which skills do I need to use GAP?

(See also an answer in Russian)

You basically need:

• A reasonable knowledge of English, enough to read this website, the GAP manuals and, if you have questions, to correspond with the GAP support group. Note however that there is some material available in other languages, e. g. Russian and Portuguese. (There are also foreign language links on the teaching webpage.)

• Basic skills in working with a computer. How much of these will depend on the use you want to make of GAP.

  In any case you should be able to handle a webbrowser. If you just want to use GAP interactively you can do so using the functions of GAP like those of a pocket calculator.

  If you want to write your own programs in the GAP language, you will need a basic idea about what programming is, i.e. you should have an idea what functions, variables and loops are, etc. and you will need some knowledge on how to install programs and to edit text files.

  If you do not have help of a systems administrator, you will have to know how to download and install programs on your computer. We provide helpful instructions how to do this with GAP, see Obtaining GAP and Installation.

• The necessary knowledge of the part of mathematics you would like to work on. While we try to help with problems occurring in the use of GAP, we regret that unless your work is directly connected with the research of a member of the GAP team we will not have the manpower to help with your mathematical problems.