gistfile1.rb

require 'digest/sha1'

class String
  def hash
    Digest::SHA1.hexdigest self
  end
  
  def bit
    "%0160b" % to_i(16)
  end
end

def distance(word1, word2)
  distance = 0
  word1.chars.zip(word2.chars) do |char1, char2|
    distance += 1 unless char1 == char2
  end
  return distance
end

test_phrase = "Rubinius one eight six active active record memcached exception JRuby DHH TOKYO sdfe3"
key_phrase = "I am not a big believer in fortune telling"

h1 = test_phrase.hash
h2 = key_phrase.hash

b1 = h1.bit
b2 = h2.bit

p distance b1, b2 # => 74