14. A method for operating a computer system, the method comprising acts of: a) obtaining source data, wherein the source data include a source string; b) obtaining a constraint and an anchor point associated with the source string, the constraint being a characteristic of a string and the anchor point defining a portion of the string to which the constraint applies, wherein a constraint comprises one or more elements from the set comprising: a regular expression; a lock constraint, indicating that a character sequence in a string should not be localized; a terminology constraint, operable on the value of a character sequence in a string; a functional constraint, operable on code points in a string; and a count constraint, operable on the length of a string or on the length of a character sequence within a string; c) automatically comparing the source string against the associated constraint based on the anchor point by comparing the constraint against the portion of the source string corresponding to the anchor point; d) displaying the source string on a display; e) obtaining a target string, wherein the target string corresponds to a translation of the source string; f) automatically comparing the target string against the associated constraint based on the anchor point by comparing the constraint against the portion of the target string corresponding to the anchor point; g) displaying the target string on the display; and h) displaying information based on the comparing, and, when the comparing indicates that the constraint is not satisfied, the displaying comprises presenting a visible indicator of at least one portion of the target string that does not satisfy constraint.
14. A method for operating a computer system, the method comprising acts of: a) obtaining source data, wherein the source data include a source string; b) obtaining a constraint and an anchor point associated with the source string, the constraint being a characteristic of a string and the anchor point defining a portion of the string to which the constraint applies, wherein a constraint comprises one or more elements from the set comprising: a regular expression; a lock constraint, indicating that a character sequence in a string should not be localized; a terminology constraint, operable on the value of a character sequence in a string; a functional constraint, operable on code points in a string; and a count constraint, operable on the length of a string or on the length of a character sequence within a string; c) automatically comparing the source string against the associated constraint based on the anchor point by comparing the constraint against the portion of the source string corresponding to the anchor point; d) displaying the source string on a display; e) obtaining a target string, wherein the target string corresponds to a translation of the source string; f) automatically comparing the target string against the associated constraint based on the anchor point by comparing the constraint against the portion of the target string corresponding to the anchor point; g) displaying the target string on the display; and h) displaying information based on the comparing, and, when the comparing indicates that the constraint is not satisfied, the displaying comprises presenting a visible indicator of at least one portion of the target string that does not satisfy constraint. 17. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises an act of: i) displaying information corresponding to one or more required terms in a string, and wherein the information includes one or more translations which correspond to the one or more required terms in the string.