Binary Search vs Linear Search Real Cost Difference in DSA Go - Build Both Approaches

Binary Search vs Linear Search Real Cost Difference

📖 Scenario: You are working in a library system that keeps a sorted list of book IDs. You want to find if a specific book ID is available. You will compare two ways to search: linear search (checking one by one) and binary search (dividing the list to find faster).

🎯 Goal: Build a Go program that creates a sorted list of book IDs, sets a target book ID to find, implements both linear search and binary search to find the target, and prints the results showing which method found the book and at what index.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a sorted slice of integers called bookIDs with these exact values: 101, 203, 305, 407, 509, 611, 713, 815, 917, 1020

Create an integer variable called targetID and set it to 713

Write a function called linearSearch that takes bookIDs and targetID and returns the index of targetID or -1 if not found

Write a function called binarySearch that takes bookIDs and targetID and returns the index of targetID or -1 if not found

Print the results of both searches with clear messages

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Searching sorted lists quickly is important in many systems like libraries, databases, and online stores to find items fast.

💼 Career

Understanding linear and binary search helps in optimizing search operations and improving software performance in real-world applications.

1

Create the sorted list of book IDs

Create a slice of integers called bookIDs with these exact values: 101, 203, 305, 407, 509, 611, 713, 815, 917, 1020

DSA Go

# Create the sorted slice bookIDs with the given values
# Your code here

Hint

Use bookIDs := []int{...} with the exact numbers inside the braces.

2

Set the target book ID to find

Create an integer variable called targetID and set it to 713

DSA Go

package main

func main() {
    bookIDs := []int{101, 203, 305, 407, 509, 611, 713, 815, 917, 1020}
    // Create targetID variable and set to 713
    // Your code here
}

Hint

Use targetID := 713 inside the main function.

3

Write linearSearch and binarySearch functions

Write a function called linearSearch that takes bookIDs and targetID and returns the index of targetID or -1 if not found. Also write a function called binarySearch that takes bookIDs and targetID and returns the index of targetID or -1 if not found.

DSA Go

package main

func linearSearch(bookIDs []int, targetID int) int {
    // Your code here
}

func binarySearch(bookIDs []int, targetID int) int {
    // Your code here
}

func main() {
    bookIDs := []int{101, 203, 305, 407, 509, 611, 713, 815, 917, 1020}
    targetID := 713
}

Hint

Use a for loop with range for linear search. For binary search, use low, high, and mid indexes to divide the list.

4

Print the search results

Print the results of both searches using fmt.Println. Print exactly these two lines: "Linear Search: Found at index" followed by the linear search result, and "Binary Search: Found at index" followed by the binary search result.

DSA Go

package main

import "fmt"

func linearSearch(bookIDs []int, targetID int) int {
    for i, id := range bookIDs {
        if id == targetID {
            return i
        }
    }
    return -1
}

func binarySearch(bookIDs []int, targetID int) int {
    low := 0
    high := len(bookIDs) - 1
    for low <= high {
        mid := (low + high) / 2
        if bookIDs[mid] == targetID {
            return mid
        } else if bookIDs[mid] < targetID {
            low = mid + 1
        } else {
            high = mid - 1
        }
    }
    return -1
}

func main() {
    bookIDs := []int{101, 203, 305, 407, 509, 611, 713, 815, 917, 1020}
    targetID := 713
    // Print linear search result
    // Print binary search result
    // Your code here
}

Hint

Call both search functions with bookIDs and targetID. Store results in variables and print with fmt.Println exactly as shown.