BinarySearch

Developed by Michael P. Epstein

How to use this applet

To start a search going, press the Play button. The search can then be paused by pressing the Pause button (which the Play button becomes once a search starts). The search can be stopped by pressing Stop. Pressing Frame Advance when the search is paused or stopped moves the search forward by one element in the array. Pressing Reset will set the search back to the beginning, put new values in the array, and create a new target value.

To change the target value for a search, just type an integer into the "Target Value" field. Note that because the array being searched consists of integers, the target value should also be an integer. The target value may not be changed while a search is in progress.

To change the size of the array, adjust the slider in the lower left portion of the applet so that it is set to the desired size. The size ranges from 1 element to 10 elements.

For additional help, click the "Help" button in the applet above.

Concepts stressed in this applet

This applet illustrates the operation of a binary search algorithm and the concept of an invariant, which is a condition that does not change during a program segment's execution. For more information, click the "Info" button in the applet above.

Source Code Files


      BinarySearch.java
      
        AnimationControls.java
        
ButtonPanel.java
        
InfoWindow.java
        
LabelField.java
        
Slider.java
        
VisualArray.java