your considerations are very hypothetical (linear vs binary) + there are modified linear and binary (+other) searches, depending on your need. be careful though of making such grand statements as saying binary is so much faster for large datasets. yes, binary is generally faster. one very serious consideration to take into account (considering the high execution speed of programs on most recent pcs) is data access times from media. this involves many variables including block factors and such. also once you get into "huge" datasets than it's a matter of course to use a decent database engine, which has indexes and optimizers etc. anyway, good luck with your binary search algorithm. btw, it's easier (and faster) to traverse a binary linked list.