Calculating time taken to type words in JavaScript

In JavaScript, we can calculate the time taken to type words on a custom keyboard where keys are arranged alphabetically (a-z) instead of the traditional QWERTY layout.

Problem Setup

We make two key assumptions:

• The fingertip starts at index 0 (key 'a')

• Time to move between keys equals the absolute difference of their positions. For example, moving from 'a' (index 0) to 'k' (index 10) takes |0 - 10| = 10 time units

Example Walkthrough

For the string 'dab', the movements are:

'a' -> 'd' = |0 - 3| = 3
'd' -> 'a' = |3 - 0| = 3  
'a' -> 'b' = |0 - 1| = 1
Total time = 3 + 3 + 1 = 7

Implementation

const str = 'dab';

const findTimeTaken = (str = '') => {
    let timeSpent = 0;
    const keyboard = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz';
    let curr = 'a';
    
    for(let i = 0; i 

7


How It Works

The algorithm tracks the current finger position and calculates the distance to each target character:


    
Initialize time counter and current position at 'a'
    
For each character in the input string:
        

            
Find current position index
            
Find target character index
            
Calculate absolute difference as movement time
            
Update current position to target character
        
    
    
Return total accumulated time


Testing with Different Inputs

// Test various strings
console.log("'abc':", findTimeTaken('abc'));
console.log("'hello':", findTimeTaken('hello'));
console.log("'z':", findTimeTaken('z'));


'abc': 2
'hello': 46
'z': 25


Conclusion

This solution efficiently calculates typing time by tracking finger movement between alphabetically ordered keys. The algorithm has O(n) time complexity where n is the string length.