If the Hasse invariant of a $P$ -divisible group is small enough, then one can construct a canonical subgroup inside its $P$-torsion. We prove that, assuming the existence of a subgroup of adequate height in the $P$-torsion with high degree, the expected properties of the canonical subgroup can be easily proved, especially the relation between its degree and the Hasse invariant. When one considers a $P$-divisible group with an action of the ring of integers of a (possibly ramified) finite extension of ${{\mathbb{Q}}_{P}}$ , then much more can be said. We define partial Hasse invariants (which are natural in the unramified case, and generalize a construction of Reduzzi and Xiao in the general case), as well as partial degrees. After studying these functions, we compute the partial degrees of the canonical subgroup.

Two integral structures on the $\mathbb{Q}$-vector space of modular forms of weight two on $X_0(N)$ are compared at primes $p$ dividing $N$ at most once. When $p=2$ and $N$ is divisible by a prime that is $3$ mod $4$, this comparison leads to an algorithm for computing the space of weight one forms mod $2$ on $X_0(N/2)$. For $p$ arbitrary and $N>4$ prime to $p$, a way to compute the Hecke algebra of mod $p$ modular forms of weight one on $\varGamma_1(N)$ is presented, using forms of weight $p$, and, for $p=2$, parabolic group cohomology with mod $2$ coefficients. Appendix A is a letter of October 1987 from Mestre to Serre in which he reports on computations of weight one forms mod $2$ of prime level. Appendix B, by Wiese, reports on an implementation for $p=2$ in Magma, using Stein’s modular symbols package, with which Mestre’s computations are redone and slightly extended.