  
  [1X1. Preface[0X
  
  The  purpose of this package is to allow efficient and flexible input/output
  operations from [5XGAP[0X. This is achieved by providing bindings to the low-level
  I/O functions in the C-library. On top of this an implementation of buffered
  I/O  in the [5XGAP[0X language is provided. Further, a framework for serialisation
  of  arbitrary  [5XGAP[0X objects is implemented. Finally, an implementation of the
  client side of the HTTP protocol is included in the package.
  
  This package allows to use file based I/O, access to links and file systems,
  pipes, sockets, and the UDP and TCP/IP protocols.
  
  By  default  the  [5XIO[0X  package  is not automatically loaded by [5XGAP[0X when it is
  installed.  You  must  load  the  package with [10XLoadPackage("IO");[0X before its
  functions become available.
  
  Please, send me an e-mail ([7Xmailto:neunhoef@mcs.st-and.ac.uk[0X) if you have any
  questions, remarks, suggestions, etc. concerning this package. Also, I would
  like to hear about applications of this package.
  
  Max Neunhöffer
  
