Question
Given two strings a and b, return True if they are at most one edit apart, where an edit is inserting, deleting, or replacing a single character (zero edits, i.e. equal strings, also counts as True). For example "pale" and "ple" are one delete apart, and "pale" and "bale" are one replace apart, but "pale" and "bake" need two edits. Solve in O(len(a)+len(b)) time without building a full DP table.
is_one_edit(a: str, b: str) → bool["pale","ple"]outtrueState your approach and its time/space complexity out loud before you optimize. Handle the edge cases (empty input, duplicates, overflow), and say why you chose this over the brute force. Green tests are the floor, not the grade.
Vibe coding: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach. Generating runnable code from your description is coming next.