I was able to implement a JavaScript based spelling corrector based on an article by Peter Norvig (How to Write a Spelling Corrector) and wanted to share this with any interested reader. I always wanted to do this the moment I was shared this link by my mentor and friend (almost 2-3 years now). I always had it in my wish-list and now it’s an accomplishment (a good note to end the year I guess). It is so special and unique in regards to employing Bayes theorem in devising the actual algorithm for the spelling corrector. The code has been optimized to a great extent yet preserved adequate styling for brevity. Future work as suggested by Norvig (in his original article) hasn’t been accommodated though. I have enjoyed using currying extensively especially for the precedence-based filtering part in the algorithm. The Spelling Corrector is an object with the following 2 interfaces:

1. train – use this function to provide the text for the training model.
2. correct – use this function to provide the words (or a list) for corrections.

Please read the article (link provided above) for all the details. Additional information (especially training text information) could be found here . I have also documented the code for readability.

var NorvigSpellChecker = function () {
	var that = {},
		filter = /([a-z]+)/g,
		alphabets = ['a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z'],
		NWORDS = {};//Training Model
	
	var train = function(trainingText) {
		var features = trainingText.match(filter);
		for(var f in features) {
			var feature = features[f];
			if (NWORDS.hasOwnProperty(feature)) {
				NWORDS[feature] += 1;
			}
			else {
				NWORDS[feature] = 1;
			}
		}
	};
	
	var edits1 = function (words) {
		var edits1Set = [];
		for(var w = 0; w < words.length; w++) {
			var word = words[w];
			for (var i = 0; i <= word.length; i++) {
				//splits (a & b)
				var a = word.slice(0,i),
					b = word.slice(i),
					c = b.slice(1),
					d = b.slice(2);
				if (b != '') {
					//deletes
					edits1Set.push(a + c);
					//transposes
					if (b.length > 1) {
						edits1Set.push(a + b.charAt(1) + b.charAt(0) + d);
					}
					//replaces & inserts
					for (var j = 0; j < alphabets.length; j++) {
						edits1Set.push(a + alphabets[j] + c);//replaces
						edits1Set.push(a + alphabets[j] + b);//inserts
					}
				}
				else {
					//inserts (remaining set for b == '')
					for (var j = 0; j < alphabets.length; j++) {
						edits1Set.push(a + alphabets[j] + b);
					}
				}
			}
		}
		return edits1Set;
	};
	
	var edits2 = function (words) {
		return edits1(edits1(words));
	};

	Object.prototype.isEmpty = function () {
		var that = this;
		for(var prop in that) {
			if(that.hasOwnProperty(prop))
				return false;
		}
		return true;
	};

	Function.prototype.curry = function () {
		var slice = Array.prototype.slice,
			args = slice.apply(arguments),
			that = this;
		return function () {
			return that.apply(null, args.concat(slice.apply(arguments)));
		};
	};
	
	var known = function () {
		var knownSet = {};
		for (var i = 0; knownSet.isEmpty() && i < arguments.length; i++) {
			var words = arguments[i];
			for (var j = 0; j < words.length; j++) {
				var word = words[j];
				if (!knownSet.hasOwnProperty(word) && NWORDS.hasOwnProperty(word)) {
					knownSet[word] = NWORDS[word];
				}
			}
		}
		return knownSet;
	};
	
	var max = function(candidates) {
		var maxCandidateKey = null,
			maxCandidateVal = 0,
			currentCandidateVal;
		for (var candidate in candidates) {
			currentCandidateVal = candidates[candidate];
			if (candidates.hasOwnProperty(candidate) && currentCandidateVal > maxCandidateVal) {
				maxCandidateKey = candidate;
				maxCandidateVal = currentCandidateVal;
			}
		}
		return maxCandidateKey;
	};

	var correct = function () {
		var corrections = {};
		for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
			var word = arguments[i];
			var candidates = known.curry()([word],edits1([word]),edits2([word]));
			corrections[word] = candidates.isEmpty() ? word : max(candidates);
		}
		return corrections;
	};
	
	that.train = train;
	that.correct = correct.curry();
	
	return that;
};

I have also hosted the source code (free for use) and sample test code. Please provide the training text as a string in the sample test code for trying JSpell. Happy New Year!