Java Ternary Search

Question

I am trying to perfrom a ternary search on a array of strings. I have got most of code down and I think I am going on the right track but can't seem to get any results other then -1. Below is the code that I have genearated thus far. I know the problem is in the search algorithm. I do not want to use any built is as I am learning.

public static void main(String[] args) {
    //declare a string array with initial size
    String[] songs =  {"Ace", "Space", "Diamond"};
    System.out.println("\nTest binary (String):");
    System.out.println(search(songs,"Ace"));

}  

public static int search(String[] x, String target) {     

   int start=0, end=x.length;

   while (start > end) {
      int midpoint1 = start+(end - start)/3;
      int midpoint2 = start +2*(end-start)/3;
      if ( target.compareTo(x[midpoint1]) == 0 ) 
          return midpoint1;
      else if ( target.compareTo(x[midpoint2]) == 0 ) 
          return midpoint2;   
      else if ( target.compareTo(x[midpoint1]) < 0 ) 
          return end = midpoint1-1;
      else if ( target.compareTo(x[midpoint2]) > 0 ) 
          return start = midpoint2+1;
  }

   return -1;
} 

Answer 1

You never get into the loop.

int start=0, end=x.length;
while (start > end)

Answer 2

You're while statement is wrong, it should contain start < end. I recomend learning the debug settings that are on most IDEs because if you're going to stick around it makes it so much easier to view the states of vars.