-- Posted by matto at 8:04 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 So I'm doing this problem, and I've entered the code: Code: public int strDist(String str, String sub) {  if( str.length()==0 ) return 0;  if( !(str.substring(0, sub.length()).equals(sub)) ) {    return strDist( str.substring(1, str.length()), sub);  }  if( !( str.substring( str.length()-sub.length(), str.length()).equals(sub) ) ) {    return strDist( str.substring(0, str.length()-1), sub);  }  return str.length(); } And it passes all the tests except "other tests," which isn't useful since I don't know what's causing it to break.  Any ideas?  This is not kewl.  :( -- Posted by glowinthedark at 8:06 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 i thought this was about coffee.. dang it! -- Posted by bratalvarado at 8:08 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 wait what is this about -- Posted by Majo at 8:09 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 I wish I understood that but Java I kicked my ass, sorry. -- Posted by h a t t at 8:30 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 well i ran it in eclipse and it got the results it was looking for so i don't know what the X is about. -- Posted by matto at 8:32 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 yawtf.  I'm trying to come up with a situation that'd cause it to fail... can't think of anything. -- Posted by h a t t at 8:35 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 ah. it fails if the string doesn't contain the other string anywhere. -- Posted by h a t t at 8:40 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 just added if (str.indexOf(sub) == -1 ) return 0; to the top and it works (when the index is -1 it means that the string is nowhere to be found) -- Posted by matto at 8:49 pm on Nov. 12, 2008 o snap alright.  thanks.  that's a useful method....