[libvoikko] C# interface for libvoikko

[Harri Pitkänen]

I have started to develop a C# interface for libvoikko. Once it is done it 
will allow using libvoikko in programs written for the .NET Common Language 
Runtime in languages such as C#, Visual Basic, IronPython and some other 
obscure languages from Microsoft. This interface will be very similar to the 
existing Python and Java interfaces.

Early testers of this interface should note that it will be developed on Linux 
using Mono and MonoDevelop. Thus if you want to try it on Windows you should 
probably use Mono there as well instead of Visual Studio. The project files 
should be compatible with Visual Studio project files but I'm not sure how 
good the compatibility is. In any case the goal is to have the resulting 
assembly remain compatible with both Mono and Microsoft .NET implementations 
(.NET version requirement will probably be 3.5 or later).

It is also good to keep in mind that unlike Python and Java communities where 
most of the widely used libraries are released under a GPL compatible license 
the .NET projects tend to use quite varying licenses that are often 
incompatible with each other and the GPL. For example ASP.NET (popular .NET 
framework for web development) has multiple implementations and I'm not sure 
if any of them is entirely GPL compatible. Libvoikko cannot be used as a part 
of proprietary applications and this remains true also for its .NET interface. 

Harri