算法分析与设计课程（5）：【leetcode】Search for a Range

Description:

Given an array of integers sorted in ascending order, find the starting and ending position of a given target value.

Your algorithm's runtime complexity must be in the order of O(log n).

If the target is not found in the array, return [-1, -1].

For example,
Given [5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10] and target value 8,
return [3, 4].

算法分析：

1. 二分法

2. 二分法的框架, 需要考虑的位置有 3 个, 在代码中我标了出来, 分别为 q1, q2, q3

3. q1 是取 <= 还是取 <. 我的经验是, 若是题目要求找到 target, 那么就用 <=, 否则用 <. 我记得在二分搜索题时, 都是用 < 的

4. q2 比较容易, 考虑当 low == high 时, 我们希望游标往哪里走

5. q3, 返回 low/high. q3 的选取与 q2 有关. 还是需要考虑当 low == high 时, 游标会往哪走

代码：

class Solution:
    def searchRange(self, A, target):
        if len(A) == 0:
            return [-1, -1]

        start, end = 0, len(A) - 1
        while start + 1 < end:
            mid = (start + end) / 2
            if A[mid] < target:
                start = mid
            else:
                end = mid

        if A[start] == target:
            leftBound = start
        elif A[end] == target:
            leftBound = end
        else:
            return [-1, -1]

        start, end = leftBound, len(A) - 1
        while start + 1 < end:
            mid = (start + end) / 2
            if A[mid] <= target:
                start = mid
            else:
                end = mid
        if A[end] == target:
            rightBound = end
        else:
            rightBound = start
        return [leftBound, rightBound]