public static int LD (String s, String t) {
	  int d[][]; // matrix
	  int n; // length of s
	  int m; // length of t
	  int i; // iterates through s
	  int j; // iterates through t
	  char s_i; // ith character of s
	  char t_j; // jth character of t
	  int cost; // cost

	    // Step 1

	    n = s.length ();
	    m = t.length ();
	    if (n == 0) {
	      return m;
	    }
	    if (m == 0) {
	      return n;
	    }
	    d = new int[n+1][m+1];

	    // Step 2

	    for (i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
	      d[i][0] = i;
	    }

	    for (j = 0; j <= m; j++) {
	      d[0][j] = j;
	    }

	    // Step 3

	    for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) {

	      s_i = s.charAt (i - 1);

	      // Step 4

	      for (j = 1; j <= m; j++) {

	        t_j = t.charAt (j - 1);

	        // Step 5

	        if (s_i == t_j) {
	          cost = 0;
	        }
	        else {
	          cost = 1;
	        }

	        // Step 6

	        d[i][j] = Minimum (d[i-1][j]+1, d[i][j-1]+1, d[i-1][j-1] + cost);

	      }

	    }

	    // Step 7

	    return d[n][m];

	  }