There are different ways to use SCO. Please note that for the actual computations the homalg package is required, and you will need both the RingsForHomalg and the GaussForHomalg package to make use of the full computational capabilities. For your information, RingsForHomalg offers support for external computer algebra systems and the rings they support, while GaussForHomalg extends GAP functionality with regards to sparse matrices and computations over fields and \(ℤ / \langle p^n \rangle\).
Regardless of the extend of your installation, you will always be able to call the example script SCO/examples/examples.g. This script is not only callable in-GAP by SCO_Examples (4.3-6), but also automatically checks which packages you have installed and provides you with the available options. The example script is designed to take you through the ring creation process and then load one of the files of your choice located in the SCO/examples/orbifolds/ directory. In there you will find a lot of test files with small 0- or 1-dimensional orbifolds, but also the complete triangulations of the 17 orbifolds corresponding to the 2-dimensional wallpaper groups (these should be exactly the uncapitalized files, ranging from p1.g to p6m.g). Computing the cohomology of these orbifolds was an important part of my diploma thesis [Gör08a] and I have also created a separate document [Gör08b] to present my results.
Please note that the variables M, iso, and mu in the orbifold files have to keep their name for the example script to work correctly. Refer to chapter 3 for concrete examples.
Once you are familiar with the example script and want to try out your own triangulations, it is best to create your own .g file in the SCO/examples/orbifolds/ directory, then call the script again. If for any reason you do not want to create a file or work with the script, you can always do every step by hand. Check 4 if you need to know more about specific methods and functions. The basic steps are:
Define a list of maximum simplices
If applicable, define an isotropy record
If applicable, define a list encoding the \(\mu\)-map
From the above data, create an orbifold triangulation
Define the simplicial set of the orbifold triangulation
Create a homalg ring \(R\)
Create boundary or coboundary matrices over \(R\)
Calculate their homology or cohomology
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