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editDistance

Language/Type: Java recursion string return
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Write a recursive method named editDistance that accepts string parameters s1 and s2 and returns the "edit distance" between the two strings as an integer. Edit distance (also called Levenshtein distance) is defined as the minimum number of "changes" required to get from s1 to s2 or vice versa. A "change" can be defined as a) inserting a character, b) deleting a character, or c) changing a character to a different character.

Call Value Returned
editDistance("driving", "diving") 1
editDistance("debate", "irate") 3
editDistance("football", "cookies") 6

Constraints: Your solution must obey the following constraints:

  • Your solution must not use any loops; it must be recursive.
  • Strings have member methods named indexOf, but you should not call them, because they allow you to get around using recursion. Similarly, the replace and replaceAll members are forbidden. You should limit yourself to using only the following string members:
    • charAt, length, substring, trim
  • Do not construct any data structures (no array, list, set, map, etc.), and do not declare any global variables. You are allowed to define other "helper" methods if you like.
Method: Write a Java method as described, not a complete program or class.

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