Edit distance

Here is an implementation of

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~lloyd/tildeStrings/Alignment/92.IPL.html

dist :: Eq a => Int -> Int -> [a] -> [a] -> Int
dist a b 
    = last (if lab == 0 then mainDiag
	    else if lab > 0 then lowers !! (lab - 1)
		 else{- < 0 -}   uppers !! (-1 - lab))
    where mainDiag = oneDiag anyInt a b (head uppers) (anyInt : head lowers)
	  uppers = eachDiag a b (mainDiag : uppers) -- upper diagonals
	  lowers = eachDiag b a (mainDiag : lowers) -- lower diagonals
	  eachDiag a [] diags = []
	  eachDiag a (bch:bs) (lastDiag:diags) = oneDiag a bs nextDiag lastDiag : eachDiag a bs diags
	      where nextDiag = head (tail diags)
	  oneDiag a b diagAbove diagBelow = thisdiag
	      where doDiag [] b nw n w = []
		    doDiag a [] nw n w = []
		    doDiag (ach:as) (bch:bs) nw n w = me : (doDiag as bs me (tail n) (tail w))
			where me = if ach == bch then nw else 1 + min3 (head w) nw (head n)
		    firstelt = 1 + head diagBelow
		    thisdiag = firstelt : doDiag a b firstelt diagAbove (tail diagBelow)
	  lab = length a - length b
          anyInt = 0
          min3 x y z = if x < y then x else min y z