Challenge: Shortest Common Supersequence (SCS)

Problem statement

Given two strings, write a function to find the length of their shortest common superstring. A superstring is a string that has both input strings as substrings.

Input

Two strings.

Output

The length of their shortest common supersequence.

Sample input

s1 = "abcf";
s2 = "bdcf";

Sample output

The shortest common supersequence of the two strings above will be abdcf, and the following would be the output:

result = 5;

Coding challenge

First, take a close look at this problem and design a step-by-step algorithm before jumping to the implementation. This problem is designed for your practice, so try to solve it on your own first. If you get stuck, you can always refer to the solution provided in the solution section. Good luck!