# CycleIndex in v8

If I type

?CycleIndex


I get

If I then type

Needs["Combinatorica"]


I get

General::compat: Combinatorica Graph and Permutations functionality has been superseded by preloaded functionaliy. The package now being loaded may conflict with this. Please see the Compatibility Guide for details.

Is there any good way to get the functionality I need without causing a conflict? The warning is somewhat strong and suggests nonspecific breakdowns further down the line...

-
Look up FiniteGroupData and related functions in Group Theory. For named groups, you can simply do something like FiniteGroupData["Quaternion", "CycleIndex"]. In fact, I had this as an answer, but I don't know enough about the subject to decide whether that answers your question or not. Let me know if it helped and I'll make it an answer. –  The Toad Oct 19 '12 at 19:54

IIUC, fully qualify the context of any symbols introduced by loading an superseded package such as Combinatorica, i.e. in your program, use CombinatoricaFooBar[...] instead of just FooBar[...] as FooBar may be defined in contexts other than Combinatorica.