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Stream/Area:
-
Subject:
-
Paper ID:
IJSREM67139
Volume:
10 |
9 |
Sep 2026
Pages:
1-4
Publication Frequency:
Monthly (12 issues per year)
License:International Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Management follows the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) License, allowing free use and distribution with proper attribution.
Associate Professor & Head, Post Graduate Department of Computer Science
J.C. D.A.V. College, Dasuya, Punjab, India
Data structure is fundamental to computer science because the way data is organized can greatly affect the performance of a program. Searching is one of the important operations in data structures. It involves finding a specific element within a collection of data. As datasets continue to grow in size, selecting an efficient searching technique as Linear Search and Binary Search becomes increasingly important for reducing execution time and improving overall system efficiency. Linear Search examines elements sequentially until the desired element is found or the entire dataset has been examined. Binary Search repeatedly divides a sorted dataset into two halves, significantly reducing the number of comparisons required. It also provides a framework for evaluating their performance using execution time, number of comparisons, and memory usage. Linear Search is simple and suitable for small or unsorted datasets, whereas Binary Search provides considerably better search performance for large, sorted datasets. This paper presents an efficiency evaluation of searching techniques with particular emphasis on Linear Search and Binary Search for data retrieval.
KEYWORDS
Searching is an important operation in data structures for efficient data retrieval. The choice of searching algorithm has a direct impact on the performance of a computer program, particularly when working with large datasets. Linear Search is simple, flexible, and suitable for small or unsorted datasets. However, its O(n) worst-case complexity makes it less efficient as the dataset becomes very large. Binary Search provides much faster searching with a O(log n) worst-case complexity, but it requires the data to be sorted. For large datasets that are already sorted or require frequent searches, Binary Search is generally the more efficient choice. Therefore, there is no single searching algorithm that is ideal for every situation. The appropriate technique depends on factors as data size, organization, hardware configurations, programming language, memory access, and sorting is required can influence actual execution time.
[1] Gilberg and Forouzan, “Data Structure-A pseudocode approach with C”, 2nd Edition, 2005, Cengage Learning [2] Schaum Lipschutz, “Data Structures with C”, Schaums’ Outlines Series, Indian Edition, 2nd Edition, 2017, Tata McGraw Hill. [3] E Balagurusamy, “Data Structures Using C”, 1st Edition, 2017, Tata McGraw Hill [4] Ellis Horowitz, Sartaj Sahni and Susan Anderson-Freed, “Fundamentals of Data Structures in C”, 2nd Edition, 2018, W.H. Freeman and Company [5] R. S. Salaria, “Data Structures and Algorithms using C”, 2nd Edition, 2022, Khanna Publishing [6] Yashavant Kanetkar, “Data Structures Through C”, 4th Edition, 2022, BPB publication
Publication Date
9/8/2026
Peer Review Type
Double-Blind Peer Review
Review Rounds: 2
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Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this research work.
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