LiquidMetal
A mimetic poly-alloy of the Quicksilver
scoring algorithm, essentially LiquidMetal. </Schwarzenegger Voice>
Flex matching short abbreviations against longer strings is a boon in productivity for typists. Applications like Quicksilver, Alfred, LaunchBar, and Launchy have made this method of keyboard entry a popular one. It's time to bring this same functionality to web controls. LiquidMetal makes scoring long strings against abbreviations easy.
Usage
Include the library:
<script src="liquidmetal.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
Score any string against an abbreviation:
LiquidMetal.score("FooBar", "foo") //=> 0.950
LiquidMetal.score("FooBar", "fb") //=> 0.917
LiquidMetal.score("Foo Bar", "fb") //=> 0.929
LiquidMetal.score("Foo Bar", "baz") //=> 0.0
LiquidMetal.score("Foo Bar", "") //=> 0.8
All scores fall between a range of 0.0 (no match) to 1.0 (perfect match).
Inspired By
- Quicksilver and its scoreForAbbreviation algorithm by Alcor
- Quicksilver.js by Lachie Cox
Why?
- To satisfy my own requirements for the jquery.flexselect plugin
- The Quicksilver algorithm doesn't give proper weight to abbreviations that match the first character of the scored string.
- The Quicksilver algorithm is extremely slow for certain length string/abbreviation combinations because of its use of recursion. While slightly slower for shorter length string/abbreviation combinations, LiquidMetal outperforms the Quicksilver algorithm by orders of magnitude under other conditions.
- The javascript version of the Quicksilver algorithm (Quicksilver.js) is case sensitive and doesn't give added weight to camel case strings; whereas, LiquidMetal is case insensitive and does give added weight to uppercase letters in camel case strings.
Todo
- More tests
- Consider tweaking the scores for "trailing" characters
- Improve implementation of highest score matching (LiquidMetal currently returns the highest scoring match for an abbreviation, but is inefficient)
- See if it's possible to tune the performance further