How do I implement binary search using MySQL?

Question

I know the basic concepts of binary search and binary insertion sort, but how can I use that knowledge with MySQL? How do I query to find a username in 1000 alphabetized rows and how do I query to insert a username?

Answer 1

You don't. You index the column and let the database use whatever algorithm it chooses for the index. This will probably be a B+-tree, which is much more efficient than a binary search when the data is on a disk.