better python integration (pythonnet?)

[steinelg]

No description provided.

[sondreew]

Overview of current quirks in the python integration:

• The "Getting started" instructions are slightly outdated and some of the examples do not work on the current TimeSeriesAnalysis release.
• Importing the assembly as a python module gives a FileNotFoundException, but rerunning the import command then works. Potentially some dependency issue somewhere.
• Docstrings from the xml before the C# functions are not fetched in pythonnet, so info about input parameters and return types is not currently visible as tooltips. pythonnet issue #374
• Typing is somewhat non-pythonic. Common python types like generic-type lists do not necessarily work, and most numpy types do not work, requiring using system types as input to the TimeSeriesAnalysis functions, which most python users are likely unfamiliar with. pythonnet discussion #2226, pythonnet issue #2243
• python-DotnetInteropt could potentially be used to create a python package that fetches the latest nuget and potentially include some auxiliary functionality (find a way to use the XML docstring, cast python and numpy types to system types, etc...)
• Major issue: For some reason certain functions are not called properly via pythonnet. They are initiated using their parent object, or a generic C# object if there is no parent object explicitly defined. When this happens the constructors and methods do not work, though a parameterless constructor seems to always work for object initialization (even if the parent object is abstract and has no constructor defined). This issue seems to apply to certain TimeSeriesAnalysis functions only, though no clear pattern has been found yet. The issue itself might be related to a bug in pythonnet that is on the roadmap to fix for the next update, though there has been no news or pull requests for this issue. pythonnet issue #2197