###############################################################
###             Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK)             ###
###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~###
### Copyright (C) 2004 University of Pennsylvania           ###
### Author: Edward Loper <edloper@gradient.cis.upenn.edu>   ###
###         Steven Bird <sb@csse.unimelb.edu.au>            ###
### URL: <http://nltk.sourceforge.net>                      ###
### For license information, see LICENSE.TXT                ###
###############################################################

Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
    NLTK is a Python package that simplifies the construction of
    programs that process natural language; and defines standard
    interfaces between the different components of an NLP system.  It
    was designed primarily to help teach graduate and undergraduate
    students about computational linguistics; but it is also useful as
    a framework for implementing research projects.


Documentation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    A substantial amount of documentation about how to use NLTK is
    available from the nltk home page:

        <http://nltk.sourceforge.net>

    In particular, the NLTK home page contains three types of
    documentation:

      - Tutorials teach students how to use the toolkit, in the
        context of performing specific tasks. They are appropriate for
        anyone who wishes to learn how to use the toolkit.
        <http://nltk.sourceforge.net/tutorial/>

      - The toolkit's reference documentation describes every module,
        interface, class, method, function, and variable in the
        toolkit. This documentation should be useful to both users and
        developers.  
        <http://nltk.sourceforge.net/ref/nltk.html>

      - A number of technical reports are available. These reports
        explain and justify the toolkit's design and
        implementation. They are used by the developers of the toolkit
        to guide and document the toolkit's construction. Students can
        consult these reports if they would like further information
        about how the toolkit is designed and why it is designed that
        way.  
        <http://nltk.sourceforge.net/tech/>


Mailing Lists
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    There are three mailing lists associated with NTLK:
      - nltk-announce: Public information and announcements
        about NLTK (very low volume)
      - nltk-devel: Discussions between NLTK developers
      - nltk-commits: CVS commit logs for NLTK

    To subscribe:
      - <http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nltk-announce>
      - <http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nltk-devel>
      - <http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nltk-commits>

    Archives:
      - <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=nltk-announce>
      - <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=nltk-devel>
      - <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=nltk-commits>


Contributing
~~~~~~~~~~~~
    If you are interested in contributing to NLTK, please email Edward
    Loper and Steven Bird at <edloper@gradient.cis.upenn.edu> and
    <sb@csse.unimelb.edu.au>.
