DEV Community

NJOKU SAMSON EBERE
NJOKU SAMSON EBERE

Posted on • Edited on

4 2

Algorithm 101: 3 Ways to Find Hamming Distance

According to Wikipedia, the Hamming distance between two strings of equal length is the number of positions at which the corresponding symbols are different. In other words, it measures the minimum number of substitutions required to change one string into the other, or the minimum number of errors that could have transformed one string into the other.


hammingDistance("part", "path"); // 2

hammingDistance("ebere", "samson"); // 'unequal word lengths'

Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In how many ways can you check for the hamming distance of two given strings of equal length? When was the last time you used do...while...loop and while...loop?

This article presents us with 3 ways to check for hamming distance. Let's get to it.

Prerequisite

This article assumes that you have basic understanding of javascript's string and array methods.

Let's determine the hamming distance of two given strings using:

  • for...loop, if...statement and toLowerCase()
      function hammingDistance(word, matchingWord) {
        let count = 0;

        if (word.length === matchingWord.length) {
          for (let i = 0; i <= word.length; i++) {
            if (word.toLowerCase()[i] !== matchingWord.toLowerCase()[i]) {
              count++;
            }
          }

          return count;
        }
        return "unequal word lengths";
      }
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • while...loop, if...statement and toLowerCase()
      function hammingDistance(word, matchingWord) {
        let count = 0;
        let i = 0;

        if (word.length === matchingWord.length) {
          while (i <= word.length) {
            if (word.toLowerCase()[i] !== matchingWord.toLowerCase()[i]) {
              count++;
            }
            i++;
          }

          return count;
        }
        return "unequal word lengths";
      }
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • do...while...loop if...statement and toLowerCase()
      function hammingDistance(word, matchingWord) {
        let count = 0;
        let i = 0;

        if (word.length === matchingWord.length) {
          do {
            if (word.toLowerCase()[i] !== matchingWord.toLowerCase()[i]) {
              count++;
            }
            i++;
          } while (i <= word.length);

          return count;
        }
        return "unequal word lengths";
      }
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Conclusion

There are many ways to solve problems programmatically. You are only limited by your imagination. I will love to know other ways you solved yours in the comment section.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please drop them in the comment section.

Up Next: Algorithm 101: 6 Ways to Find the Longest Word in a Sentence

You can also follow and message me on social media platforms.

Twitter | LinkedIn | Github

Thank You For Your Time.

Image of Datadog

The Future of AI, LLMs, and Observability on Google Cloud

Datadog sat down with Google’s Director of AI to discuss the current and future states of AI, ML, and LLMs on Google Cloud. Discover 7 key insights for technical leaders, covering everything from upskilling teams to observability best practices

Learn More

Top comments (0)