private int countLetters(Lane lane){
  int count=0;
  for (int i=lane.getFirstNonGapPosition(); i <= lane.getLastNonGapPosition(); i++) {
    if (Character.isLetter(lane.charAt(i)))     count++;
  }
  return count;
}

private int countLetters ( Lane lane ) { int count = 0 ; for ( int i = lane . getFirstNonGapPosition ( ) ; i <= lane . getLastNonGapPosition ( ) ; i ++ ) { if ( Character . isLetter ( lane . charAt ( i ) ) ) count ++ ; } return count ; }
count number of letters in sequence
