Searching is a very common problem, both in life and in computer applications. It is so important that many data structures and algorithms have been designed specifically to make searching as easy and efficient as possible.
In this set of notes we will review the three techniques for searching for a value in an array. Other sets of notes will present several different data structures designed to support efficient searches.
Recall that there are two basic approaches to searching for a given value val in an array: sequential search and binary search.
Sequential search involves looking at each value in turn (i.e., start with the value in array[0], then array[1], etc.). The algorithm quits and returns true if the current value is val; it quits and returns false if it has looked at all of the values in the array without finding val.
If the values are in sorted order, then the algorithm can sometimes quit and return false without having to look at all of the values in the array; in particular, if the current value is greater than val then there is no point in looking at the rest of the values in the array (val is definitely not there).
The worst-case time for a sequential search in an array of size N is always O(N), even when the array is sorted (though the average-case time should be better for a sorted array than for a non-sorted array).
When the values are in sorted order, a better approach than sequential search is to use binary search. The algorithm for binary search starts by looking at the middle item mid. If mid is the value val that we're searching for, the algorithm quits and returns true. Otherwise, it uses the relative ordering of mid and val to eliminate half of the array (if val is less than mid, then it can't be to the right of mid in the array; similarly, if it is greater than mid, it can't be to the left of mid). Once half of the array has been eliminated, the algorithm starts again by looking at the middle item in the remaining half. It quits when it finds val or when the entire array has been eliminated.
The worst-case time for binary search in an array of size N is proportional to log2 N (pronounced "log base 2 of N"). The log base 2 of N is the number of times N can be divided in half before there is nothing left. Similarly, the log base 3 of N would be the number of times N can be divided in thirds before there is nothing left. Using Big-O notation, log base anything of N is written O(log N), since the difference between "log base 2 of N" and "log base some other number of N" is just a constant factor.
As discussed above, binary search only works if the values in the array are in sorted order. Values can be arranged in sorted order only if, given two values a and b, we can answer the question: Is a less than b? That question can be answered for all numeric values (e.g., int, float, double); we can compare two numeric variables x and y using the "less-than" operator: if (x < y) ...
What about Java Objects? Since Integers and Doubles represent numeric values, it makes sense to be able to compare them; similarly, there is a natural ordering on strings, so it makes sense to be able to compare two String objects, too. For Integers and Doubles, you could convert them to the corresponding int / double values and use the less-than operator, but Java gives you an easier option (one that also works for Strings): Integers, Doubles, and Strings all implement the Comparable interface, which means that they have a compareTo method. The compareTo method allows you to compare two Integers, two Doubles, or two Strings to see if one is less than, equal to, or greater than the other. The compareTo method returns a negative value to mean "less than", it returns zero to mean "equal to", and it returns a positive value to mean "greater than".
For example, if variables S1 and S2 are both Strings, then S1.compareTo(S2) returns an int value that is:
When you define a new class you should think about whether it makes sense to ask whether one instance of the class is less than another instance. If the answer is yes, you should define a compareTo method and you should make your class implement the Comparable interface. If you do that, it will be possible to pass instances of your class to methods that require Comparable parameters (for example, Java provides some sorting methods that require Comparable parameters).
To make your class implement the Comparable interface you must:
int compareTo(C other)
For example, we could define a Name class with two fields for the first and last names. It makes sense to consider one Name smaller than another if the first one would come first in the phonebook (i.e., its last name comes first in alphabetical order, or the last names are the same and its first name comes first in alphabetical order). Here's a (partial) definition of the Name class, including just the fields and the compareTo method:
public class Name implements Comparable<Name> {
private String firstName, lastName;
public int compareTo(Name other) {
int tmp = lastName.compareTo(other.lastName);
if (tmp != 0) {
return tmp;
}
return firstName.compareTo(other.firstName);
}
}