Introduction

Welcome to our Text Comparison Web Application, a powerful tool designed to help you compare two pieces of text and highlight the differences between them. This application is built using Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and TypeScript, offering a seamless user experience with support for both light and dark modes.

How to Use

Using the application is straightforward. Simply follow these steps:

1. Enter the first piece of text into the left text input area.
2. Enter the second piece of text into the right text input area.
3. The application will automatically compare the two texts and display the differences in real-time.
4. The differences will be highlighted: text that is unique to the left input will be displayed in the left output area, and text unique to the right input will be shown in the right output area.

How It Works

The core of our application lies in its text comparison algorithm, which is based on the Levenshtein Distance algorithm. This algorithm computes the minimum number of single-character edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions) required to change one string into another. The Levenshtein Distance is a popular algorithm used in various applications such as spell checking, DNA sequencing, and natural language processing.

Here’s a high-level overview of how the algorithm works in our application:

• Initialization: A matrix is initialized where the dimensions are determined by the lengths of the two strings being compared. The matrix is used to keep track of the distances between substrings.
• Matrix Population: The matrix is filled with values representing the cost of transforming substrings from one string to the other. The cost is determined by comparing characters and calculating the minimum cost for each operation (insertion, deletion, substitution).
• Backtracking: After the matrix is populated, we backtrack to determine the exact differences between the two texts. This step identifies which characters are different and need to be highlighted.

Applications

Text comparison is a valuable tool in various domains:

• Code Review: Developers use text comparison tools to review changes in code, identify differences between versions, and ensure that updates are correctly implemented.
• Document Comparison: This application can be used to compare different versions of documents to track changes, revisions, and updates.
• Data Cleaning: When working with large datasets, text comparison helps in identifying and resolving discrepancies between data sources.
• Educational Purposes: Students and educators can use text comparison to understand textual differences and analyze changes in literary texts.

Conclusion

Our Text Comparison Web Application offers a user-friendly interface and robust functionality to compare two pieces of text efficiently. With support for real-time updates and visual differentiation of changes, it is an invaluable tool for anyone dealing with text analysis, revision, or data comparison.

We hope this application enhances your productivity and simplifies your text comparison tasks. Feel free to explore its features and make the most of its capabilities!