__author__ = 'Greg'


def hamming(a, b):
    """ counts the number of characters varying between 2 strings.
    """
    len1 = len(a)
    len2 = len(b)
    overlap = min(len1, len2)
    difference = abs(len1 - len2)
    for x in range(overlap):
        if a[x] != b[x]:
            difference += 1
    return difference

b1d45085e31b4a6ecadc4803b4679d9665524539
<mask token>

<mask token>


def hamming(a, b):
    """ counts the number of characters varying between 2 strings.
    """
    len1 = len(a)
    len2 = len(b)
    overlap = min(len1, len2)
    difference = abs(len1 - len2)
    for x in range(overlap):
        if a[x] != b[x]:
            difference += 1
    return difference

__author__ = 'Greg'


def hamming(a, b):
    """ counts the number of characters varying between 2 strings.
    """
    len1 = len(a)
    len2 = len(b)
    overlap = min(len1, len2)
    difference = abs(len1 - len2)
    for x in range(overlap):
        if a[x] != b[x]:
            difference += 1
    return difference
