  
  [1X1 [33X[0;0YIntroduction[133X[101X
  
  [33X[0;0Y[5XLOOPS[105X is a package for [5XGAP4[105X whose purpose is to:[133X
  
  [30X    [33X[0;6Yprovide   researchers   in  nonassociative  algebra  with  a  powerful
        computational tool concerning finite loops and quasigroups,[133X
  
  [30X    [33X[0;6Yextend [5XGAP[105X toward the realm of nonassociative structures.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0Y[5XLOOPS[105X has been accepted as an official package of [5XGAP[105X in May 2015.[133X
  
  
  [1X1.1 [33X[0;0YInstallation[133X[101X
  
  [33X[0;0YHave [5XGAP 4.8[105X or newer installed on your computer.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0YIf  you do not see the subfolder [11Xpkg/loops[111X in the main directory of [5XGAP[105X then
  download    the    [5XLOOPS[105X    package    from    the    distribution   website
  [7Xhttps://gap-packages.github.io/loops/[107X  and  unpack  the downloaded file into
  the [11Xpkg[111X subfolder.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0YThe   package   [5XLOOPS[105X   can  then  be  loaded  to  [5XGAP[105X  anytime  by  calling
  [10XLoadPackage("loops");[110X.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0YIf  you  wish  to  load  [5XLOOPS[105X  automatically while starting [5XGAP[105X, start [5XGAP[105X,
  execute the following commands,[133X
  
  gap> pref := UserPreference( "PackagesToLoad " );;
  gap> Add( pref, "loops" );;
  gap> SetUserPreference( "PackagesToLoad", pref );;
  gap> WriteGapIniFile();;
  
  [33X[0;0Yquit [5XGAP[105X and restart it.[133X
  
  
  [1X1.2 [33X[0;0YDocumentation[133X[101X
  
  [33X[0;0YThe documentation has been prepared with the [5XGAPDoc[105X package and is therefore
  available in several formats: LaTeX, pdf, ps, html, and as an inline help in
  [5XGAP[105X.  All  these  formats  have  been  obtained directly from the master XML
  documentation file. Consequently, the different formats of the documentation
  differ only in their appearance, not in content.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0YThe preferred format of the documentation is html with MathJax turned on.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0YAll  formats  of  the documentation can be found in the [11Xdoc[111X folder of [5XLOOPS[105X.
  You can also download the documentation from the [5XLOOPS[105X distribution website.[133X
  
  [33X[0;0YThe  inline  [5XGAP[105X help is available upon installing [5XLOOPS[105X and can be accessed
  in  the  usual  way, i.e., upon typing [10X?command[110X, [5XGAP[105X displays the section of
  the [5XLOOPS[105X manual containing information about [10Xcommand[110X.[133X
  
  
  [1X1.3 [33X[0;0YTest Files[133X[101X
  
  [33X[0;0YTest  files  conforming  to  [5XGAP[105X standards are provided for [5XLOOPS[105X and can be
  found  in  the  folder [11Xtst[111X. The command [10XReadPackage("loops","tst/testall.g")[110X
  runs all tests for [5XLOOPS[105X.[133X
  
  
  [1X1.4 [33X[0;0YMemory Management[133X[101X
  
  [33X[0;0YSome  libraries of loops are loaded only upon explicit demand and can occupy
  a  lot  of  memory. For instance, the library or RCC loops occupies close to
  100  MB  of  memory  when fully loaded. The command [10XLOOPS_FreeMemory();[110X will
  attempt to free memory by unbinding on-demand library data loaded by [5XLOOPS[105X.[133X
  
  
  [1X1.5 [33X[0;0YFeedback[133X[101X
  
  [33X[0;0YWe   welcome  all  comments  and  suggestions  on  [5XLOOPS[105X,  especially  those
  concerning  the  future  development  of  the package. You can contact us by
  e-mail.[133X
  
