A+ Work

Implement and test a generic binary search. Note that your test program must use at least 2 types of data to prove that bsearch is generic. 

Templating means that instead of passing a parameter such as Integer you pass a parameter T. (T is a type variable and can be named anything). This means that you can call bsearch with different types of objects. 

Pseudo Code Example: 

Bsearch(String) Bsearch(Integer) 

This means you do not have to write 2 separate bsearch methods, one for String and one for Integer. 

The heart of how this is accomplished is the Comparable interface. If a class implements Comparable, it defines less than, greater than and equals. Also, by making the type variable you can call with any object that implements Comparable. 

Example Code: 

public class Searches 
{ 
public static int bsearch(T[] a, int first, int last, T key) 
{ 

called in main as: 

result = Searches.bsearch(IntegerArray,0, 10, key); 
result = Searchesbsearch(StringArray,0,10,key); 


Example Output: 

--------------------Configuration: -------------------- 
Integer test array contains: 
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 
-3 is not in the array. 
-2 is not in the array. 
-1 is not in the array. 
0 is at index 0 
1 is not in the array. 
2 is at index 1 
3 is not in the array. 
4 is at index 2 
String test array contains: 
apples oranges peaches strawberries watermelons 
apples is at index 0 
plums is not in the array. 

Process completed.