# Hamming Calculate the Hamming difference between two DNA strands. A mutation is simply a mistake that occurs during the creation or copying of a nucleic acid, in particular DNA. Because nucleic acids are vital to cellular functions, mutations tend to cause a ripple effect throughout the cell. Although mutations are technically mistakes, a very rare mutation may equip the cell with a beneficial attribute. In fact, the macro effects of evolution are attributable by the accumulated result of beneficial microscopic mutations over many generations. The simplest and most common type of nucleic acid mutation is a point mutation, which replaces one base with another at a single nucleotide. By counting the number of differences between two homologous DNA strands taken from different genomes with a common ancestor, we get a measure of the minimum number of point mutations that could have occurred on the evolutionary path between the two strands. This is called the 'Hamming distance'. It is found by comparing two DNA strands and counting how many of the nucleotides are different from their equivalent in the other string. GAGCCTACTAACGGGAT CATCGTAATGACGGCCT ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ The Hamming distance between these two DNA strands is 7. # Implementation notes The Hamming distance is only defined for sequences of equal length. This means that based on the definition, each language could deal with getting sequences of equal length differently. ## Getting Started For installation and learning resources, refer to the [exercism help page](http://exercism.io/languages/ocaml). ## Installation To work on the exercises, you will need `Opam` and `Core`. Consult [opam](https://opam.ocaml.org) website for instructions on how to install `opam` for your OS. Once `opam` is installed open a terminal window and run the following command to install core: ```bash opam install core ``` To run the tests you will need `OUnit`. Install it using `opam`: ```bash opam install ounit ``` ## Running Tests A Makefile is provided with a default target to compile your solution and run the tests. At the command line, type: ```bash make ``` ## Interactive Shell `utop` is a command line program which allows you to run Ocaml code interactively. The easiest way to install it is via opam: ```bash opam install utop ``` Consult [utop](https://github.com/diml/utop/blob/master/README.md) for more detail. ## Feedback, Issues, Pull Requests The [exercism/ocaml](https://github.com/exercism/ocaml) repository on GitHub is the home for all of the Ocaml exercises. If you have feedback about an exercise, or want to help implementing a new one, head over there and create an issue. We'll do our best to help you! ## Source The Calculating Point Mutations problem at Rosalind [http://rosalind.info/problems/hamm/](http://rosalind.info/problems/hamm/) ## Submitting Incomplete Solutions It's possible to submit an incomplete solution so you can see how others have completed the exercise.