Introduction to Searching and Sorting Algorithms
Introduces two foundational algorithms every programmer needs to know: linear search, which scans a list element by element until the target is found and returns its index (or -1), and binary search, which requires a sorted list but cuts the search space in half with each comparison for dramatically faster lookups on large datasets. Provides Python implementations of both and explains when each is appropriate based on the size and order of the data being searched.