#searching

Linear Search

Introduction Linear Search is the simplest searching algorithm — it checks every element in a collection one by one until it finds the target or reaches the end. It’s like looking for a specific book on an unsorted shelf by scanning from left to right. It’s not the fastest search, but it works on any collection — sorted or unsorted, arrays or linked lists. Understanding Linear Search also helps you appreciate why Binary Search is so much faster on sorted data. Read more →

March 31, 2026

Binary Search Trees (BST)

Introduction A Binary Search Tree (BST) is a specialized binary tree with an important ordering property: for every node, all values in the left subtree are less than the node’s value, and all values in the right subtree are greater. This simple property enables efficient searching, insertion, and deletion operations. BSTs are one of the most important data structures in computer science, forming the basis for efficient ordered collections, database indexing, and many algorithmic solutions. Read more →

November 19, 2025

Binary Search

Introduction Binary search is a classic algorithm used to quickly find the position of a target value within a sorted collection. It repeatedly divides the search interval in half, discarding the half that cannot contain the target. Because of this halving behavior, binary search runs in logarithmic time: O(log n). If you are new to complexity analysis, review our guide to Big-O Notation. Also see our overview of Arrays, since binary search is most commonly applied to sorted arrays. Read more →

November 18, 2025