function theLoveLetterMystery(s: string): number {
    let operations = 0

    // Calculate the sum of the differences between opposite pairs of characters (number ascii).
    for (let i = 0; i < Math.floor(s.length / 2); i++) {
        let reverse_i = s.length - i - 1
        if (s[i] != s[reverse_i]) {
            operations += Math.abs(s.charCodeAt(i) - s.charCodeAt(reverse_i))
        }
    }

    return operations
}

public static int theLoveLetterMystery(String s) {
    // Write your code here
    int count = 0;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(s);
        String str = sb.reverse().toString();
        if (s.contentEquals(str)) {
            return count;
        } else {
            for (int i = 0; i < s.length() / 2; i++) {
                count += Math.abs(s.charAt(i) - s.charAt(s.length() - 1 - i));
            }
            return count;
        }
    }

int theLoveLetterMystery(string s) {
    int cnt = 0;
    int k = 0;
    int left_part = 0;
    int right_part = 0;
    while (k < int(s.size() / 2)) {
        left_part = int(s[k]);
        right_part = int(s[s.size() - k - 1]);
        while (left_part != right_part) {
            if (left_part < right_part) {
                cnt++;
                right_part -= 1;
            } else if (left_part > right_part) {
                cnt++;
                left_part -= 1;
            }
        }
        k++;
    }
    return cnt;
}

sub theLoveLetterMystery {
    my @s = split("", shift);
    my $cnt = 0;
    my $k = 0;
    my $left_part = 0;
    my $right_part = 0;
    while ($k < int(scalar(@s) / 2)) {
        $left_part = ord($s[$k]);
        $right_part = ord($s[scalar(@s) - $k - 1]);
        while ($left_part != $right_part){
            if ($left_part < $right_part) {
                $cnt++;
                $right_part -= 1;
            } elsif ($left_part > $right_part) {
                $cnt++;
                $left_part -= 1;
            }
        }
        $k++;
    }
    return $cnt;

}

public static int theLoveLetterMystery(String s) {
  int n = s.length();
  int totalOps = 0;

  for (int i = 0; i < n / 2; i++) {
    totalOps += Math.abs(s.charAt(i) - s.charAt(n - 1 - i));
  }

  return totalOps;
}