How can I implement different searching algorithms in Python?

How can I implement different searching algorithms in Python?

You can implement various searching algorithms like linear search, binary search, and more in Python. Which one are you interested in?

Can you show me how to implement binary search?

Sure! Here's a simple implementation of binary search in Python:

def binary_search(arr, target):
    left, right = 0, len(arr) - 1
    while left <= right:
        mid = (left + right) // 2
        if arr[mid] == target:
            return mid
        elif arr[mid] < target:
            left = mid + 1
        else:
            right = mid - 1
    return -1

You can call this function with a sorted array and the target value.

What about linear search? How does that work?

Linear search is simpler. It checks each element in the list until it finds the target. Here's how you can implement it:

def linear_search(arr, target):
    for index, value in enumerate(arr):
        if value == target:
            return index
    return -1

This function returns the index of the target if found, or -1 if not.

Thanks! Can you explain the time complexity of these algorithms?

Of course! Linear search has a time complexity of O(n), while binary search has a time complexity of O(log n), making binary search more efficient for large datasets.