Binary Search

For a given sorted array (ascending order) and a target number, find the first index of this number in O(log n) time complexity.

If the target number does not exist in the array, return -1.

Example

If the array is [1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 10], for given target 3, return 2.

这是一个经典的binary serch的模板

1.start+1 < end，这样就不用考虑两个指针的前后，最后结束时一定是相邻的

2. mid = start + (end-start/)2，虽然对python来说不重要，但是对于Java等可以防止溢出

3. nums[mid] <, ==,> target 的三种情况

4. 是return start end的值 还是-1

class Solution {
    /**
     * @param nums: The integer array.
     * @param target: Target to find.
     * @return: The first position of target. Position starts from 0.
     */
    public int binarySearch(int[] nums, int target) {
        if (nums.length == 0){
            return -1;
        }
        int start = 0;
        int end = nums.length - 1;
        int mid;
        while (start + 1 < end){
            mid = start + (end - start) / 2;
            if (target > nums[mid]){
                start = mid;
            } else if (target < nums[mid]) {
                end = mid;
            } else {
                end = mid;
            }
        }
        if (nums[start] == target){
            return start;
        } else if (nums[end] == target){
            return end;
        } else {
            return -1;
        }
    }
}

class Solution:
    # @param nums: The integer array
    # @param target: Target number to find
    # @return the first position of target in nums, position start from 0 
    def binarySearch(self, nums, target):
        if len(nums) == 0:
            return -1

        start, end = 0, len(nums) - 1
        while start + 1 < end:
            mid = (start + end) / 2
            if nums[mid] < target:
                start = mid
            else:
                end = mid

        if nums[start] == target:
            return start
        if nums[end] == target:
            return end
        return -1