Implementing Binary Search in Java: Code Examples and Explanation

Binary search is an efficient algorithm to find an element in a sorted array. It divides the array into halves, reducing the search space by half with each comparison. Binary search has a time complexity of O(log n), making it faster than linear search for large datasets.

Here’s an example of binary search in Java:

int binarySearch(int[] array, int target) {
    int left = 0, right = array.length - 1;
    while (left <= right) {
        int mid = left + (right - left) / 2;
        if (array[mid] == target) return mid;
        if (array[mid] < target) left = mid + 1;
        else right = mid - 1;
    }
    return -1;
}

In this example, binary search efficiently locates the target element in a sorted array. Understanding binary search is essential for optimizing search operations in Java applications.