13.9 Edit Distance

Link: https://oj.leetcode.com/problems/edit-distance/

Below is my 1st attempt. But has errors. 

public class Solution {
    public int minDistance(String word1, String word2) {
        if(word1 == null && word2 == null) return 0;
        int m = word1.length();
        int n = word2.length();
        int[][] f = new int[m][n];
        for(int i = 0; i < m; i++){
            for(int j = 0; j < n; j++){
                int score = word1.charAt(i) == word2.charAt(j) ? 1 : 0;
                f[i][j] = Math.min(Math.min(f[i-1][j], f[i][j-1])+1, f[i-1][j-1] + score);
            }
        }
        return f[m-1][n-1];
    }
}

Approach I: correct answer

Time: O(mn), Space: O(mn)

public class Solution {
    public int minDistance(String word1, String word2) {
        if(word1 == null && word2 == null) return 0;
        int m = word1.length();
        int n = word2.length();
        int[][] f = new int[m+1][n+1];
        //init the first row
        for(int j = 0; j <=n; j++){
            f[0][j] = j;
        }
        //init the first col
        for(int i = 0; i <=m; i++){
            f[i][0] = i;
        }
        //fill in the middle
        for(int i = 1; i <=m; i++){
            for(int j = 1; j <=n; j++){
                if(word1.charAt(i-1) == word2.charAt(j-1)){
                    f[i][j] = f[i-1][j-1];//why don't need to compare with Math.min(f[i-1][j], f[i][j-1])+1 here?
                } 
                else{
                    f[i][j] = Math.min(Math.min(f[i-1][j], f[i][j-1]), f[i-1][j-1])+1;
                }
            }
        }
        return f[m][n];
    }
}

Approach II: DP with two arrays 

Since f[i][j] come from f[i-1][j-1], f[i][j-1] and f[i-1][j], we cannot use one array to store it. So we create two arrays. One to store the current row, the other to store the previous row. 

Time: O(mn), Space: O(min(m, n))

public class Solution {
    public int minDistance(String word1, String word2) {
        if(word1 == null && word2 == null) return 0;
        int m = word1.length();
        int n = word2.length();
        int[] f = new int[n+1];
        //init the first row
        for(int j = 0; j <=n; j++){
            f[j] = j;
        }
        //fill in the middle
        for(int i = 1; i <=m; i++){
            int[] newF = new int[n+1];
            newF[0] = i;
            for(int j = 1; j <=n; j++){
                if(word1.charAt(i-1) == word2.charAt(j-1)){
                    newF[j] = f[j-1];
                } 
                else{
                    newF[j] = Math.min(Math.min(f[j], newF[j-1]), f[j-1])+1;
                }
            }
            f = newF;
        }
        return f[n];
    }
}