package Searches; import static java.lang.String.format; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.Random; import java.util.stream.Stream; /** * A iterative version of a ternary search algorithm This is better way to implement the ternary * search, because a recursive version adds some overhead to a stack. But in java the compile can * transform the recursive version to iterative implicitly, so there are no much differences between * these two algorithms * *

Worst-case performance Θ(log3(N)) Best-case performance O(1) Average performance Θ(log3(N)) * Worst-case space complexity O(1) * * @author Podshivalov Nikita (https://github.com/nikitap492) * @see SearchAlgorithm * @see TernarySearch * @since 2018-04-13 */ public class IterativeTernarySearch implements SearchAlgorithm { @Override public > int find(T[] array, T key) { int left = 0; int right = array.length - 1; while (right > left) { int leftCmp = array[left].compareTo(key); int rightCmp = array[right].compareTo(key); if (leftCmp == 0) return left; if (rightCmp == 0) return right; int leftThird = left + (right - left) / 3 + 1; int rightThird = right - (right - left) / 3 - 1; if (array[leftThird].compareTo(key) <= 0) { left = leftThird; } else { right = rightThird; } } return -1; } public static void main(String[] args) { // just generate data Random r = new Random(); int size = 100; int maxElement = 100000; Integer[] integers = Stream.generate(() -> r.nextInt(maxElement)).limit(size).sorted().toArray(Integer[]::new); // the element that should be found Integer shouldBeFound = integers[r.nextInt(size - 1)]; IterativeTernarySearch search = new IterativeTernarySearch(); int atIndex = search.find(integers, shouldBeFound); System.out.println( format( "Should be found: %d. Found %d at index %d. An array length %d", shouldBeFound, integers[atIndex], atIndex, size)); int toCheck = Arrays.binarySearch(integers, shouldBeFound); System.out.println( format( "Found by system method at an index: %d. Is equal: %b", toCheck, toCheck == atIndex)); } }