{ "cells": [ { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "This notebook was prepared by [Donne Martin](https://github.com/donnemartin). Source and license info is on [GitHub](https://github.com/donnemartin/interactive-coding-challenges)." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "# Solution Notebook" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Problem: Find the single different char between two strings.\n", "\n", "* [Constraints](#Constraints)\n", "* [Test Cases](#Test-Cases)\n", "* [Algorithm](#Algorithm)\n", "* [Code](#Code)\n", "* [Unit Test](#Unit-Test)" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Constraints\n", "\n", "* Can we assume the strings are ASCII?\n", " * Yes\n", "* Is case important?\n", " * The strings are lower case\n", "* Can we assume the inputs are valid?\n", " * No, check for None\n", " * Otherwise, assume there is only a single different char between the two strings\n", "* Can we assume this fits memory?\n", " * Yes" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Test Cases\n", "\n", "* None input -> TypeError\n", "* 'ab', 'aab' -> 'a'\n", "* 'aab', 'ab' -> 'a'\n", "* 'abcd', 'abcde' -> 'e'\n", "* 'aaabbcdd', 'abdbacade' -> 'e'" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Algorithm\n", "\n", "### Dictionary\n", "\n", "* Keep a dictionary of seen values in s\n", "* Loop through t, decrementing the seen values\n", " * If the char is not there or if the decrement results in a negative value, return the char\n", "* Return the differing char from the dictionary\n", "\n", "Complexity:\n", "* Time: O(m+n), where m and n are the lengths of s, t\n", "* Space: O(h), for the dict, where h is the unique chars in s\n", "\n", "### XOR\n", "\n", "* XOR the two strings, which will isolate the differing char\n", "\n", "Complexity:\n", "* Time: O(m+n), where m and n are the lengths of s, t\n", "* Space: O(1)" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Code" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", "execution_count": 1, "metadata": { "collapsed": false }, "outputs": [], "source": [ "class Solution(object):\n", "\n", " def find_diff(self, str1, str2):\n", " if str1 is None or str2 is None:\n", " raise TypeError('str1 or str2 cannot be None')\n", " seen = {}\n", " for char in str1:\n", " if char in seen:\n", " seen[char] += 1\n", " else:\n", " seen[char] = 1\n", " for char in str2:\n", " try:\n", " seen[char] -= 1\n", " except KeyError:\n", " return char\n", " if seen[char] < 0:\n", " return char\n", " for char, count in seen.items():\n", " return char\n", "\n", " def find_diff_xor(self, str1, str2):\n", " if str1 is None or str2 is None:\n", " raise TypeError('str1 or str2 cannot be None')\n", " result = 0\n", " for char in str1:\n", " result ^= ord(char)\n", " for char in str2:\n", " result ^= ord(char)\n", " return chr(result)" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Unit Test" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", "execution_count": 2, "metadata": { "collapsed": false }, "outputs": [ { "name": "stdout", "output_type": "stream", "text": [ "Overwriting test_str_diff.py\n" ] } ], "source": [ "%%writefile test_str_diff.py\n", "from nose.tools import assert_equal, assert_raises\n", "\n", "\n", "class TestFindDiff(object):\n", "\n", " def test_find_diff(self):\n", " solution = Solution()\n", " assert_raises(TypeError, solution.find_diff, None)\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff('ab', 'aab'), 'a')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff('aab', 'ab'), 'a')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff('abcd', 'abcde'), 'e')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff('aaabbcdd', 'abdbacade'), 'e')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff_xor('ab', 'aab'), 'a')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff_xor('aab', 'ab'), 'a')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff_xor('abcd', 'abcde'), 'e')\n", " assert_equal(solution.find_diff_xor('aaabbcdd', 'abdbacade'), 'e')\n", " print('Success: test_find_diff')\n", "\n", "\n", "def main():\n", " test = TestFindDiff()\n", " test.test_find_diff()\n", "\n", "\n", "if __name__ == '__main__':\n", " main()" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", "execution_count": 3, "metadata": { "collapsed": false }, "outputs": [ { "name": "stdout", "output_type": "stream", "text": [ "Success: test_find_diff\n" ] } ], "source": [ "%run -i test_str_diff.py" ] } ], "metadata": { "kernelspec": { "display_name": "Python 3", "language": "python", "name": "python3" }, "language_info": { "codemirror_mode": { "name": "ipython", "version": 3 }, "file_extension": ".py", "mimetype": "text/x-python", "name": "python", "nbconvert_exporter": "python", "pygments_lexer": "ipython3", "version": "3.5.0" } }, "nbformat": 4, "nbformat_minor": 0 }