[RFC]: Hamming distance between two strings

[Planeshifter]

Description

This RFC proposes adding a function to calculate the Hamming distance between two strings.

The function should have the following signature (a: string, b: string): number.

The function should take two strings as arguments and return the Hamming distance between them. The Hamming distance is defined as the number of characters that have to be changed to convert one string to the other. Since it only allows substitutions, it can only be used to compare strings of the same length.

Additionally, in order to account for code points and grapheme clusters, we should add separate packages for dealing with each, as the underlying algorithms are likely to differ. We then can provide a more general API which unifies the underlying algorithms. Accordingly, we should create the following packages:

• @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming: compares UTF-16 code units.
  • PR: feat: add string/base/distances/hamming #1166
• @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming-code-points: compares Unicode code points.
• @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming-grapheme-clusters: compares grapheme clusters (i.e., visual characters)

Once the above are completed, we can add

• @stdlib/string/distances/hamming: unifies the above "base" packages and provides an option for specifying the computation "mode" (i.e., code_units, code_points, or grapheme_clusters, with grapheme_clusters being the default).

Related Issues

Related issues #151.

Questions

No.

Other

No.

Checklist

• I have read and understood the Code of Conduct.
• Searched for existing issues and pull requests.
• The issue name begins with RFC:.

[marsian83]

Hi, I would like to work on this
Can I be assgined this

[kgryte]

@marsian83 Sure. Would you be open to working on @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming-code-points?

[kgryte]

Note that the UTF-16 code unit implementation has already been added. The code points implementation should iterate over Unicode code points (e.g., most Unicode characters and some emoji). You can find other code points implementation in the string/base/* namespace.

[marsian83]

Note that the UTF-16 code unit implementation has already been added. The code points implementation should iterate over Unicode code points (e.g., most Unicode characters and some emoji). You can find other code points implementation in the string/base/* namespace.

Sure, I'll see how these work.
Thanks for the reference

[mayankkamboj47]

@kgryte Hello ! Can I work on the grapheme clusters part ?

[kgryte]

@mayankkamboj47 Sure. You'll probably want to rely on next-grapheme-cluster-break in order to derive string indices for the purpose of comparing substrings.

[Pratik772846]

@kgryte @Planeshifter If noone is working on @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming-code-points, can i work on it?

[JayPokale]

@kgryte I created a pull request for Hamming distance between Unicode characters (#1948 ). Can you please review it.
Looking forward for your reply.

[JayPokale]

Hello there, can someone please review PR #1948 on @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming-code-points.

[MynameisSanskar]

Hi @kgryte,

I am interested in contributing to the Hamming distance feature for comparing Unicode code points in the @stdlib/string/base/distances/hamming-code-points package. Could you please assign this task to me?

Looking forward to your guidance and feedback!

Thank you!``

[Anant1004]

Hello, everyone ! I'm interested in contributing to the Hamming distance feature. I noticed that parts of the implementation for different comparison modes (UTF-16 code units, Unicode code points, and grapheme clusters) have been discussed and some PRs have been submitted. Could someone please update me on the current status of this issue and let me know if there are any open tasks I could help with? Thank you !

[kgryte]

@MynameisSanskar @Anant1004 As tracked in the OP, calculating the distance between two strings when comparing code points has not been completed. Initial attempt to add support can be found in #1948, but that PR stalled.