Searching is a very useful operation within the C++ language and any other programming language. Searching is especially useful with arrays. Searching is used daily on the Internet, with surfers using search engines like Google.

Performance is a must with search engines. There are also many ways you can take advantage of searching, like trying to locate a certain transaction number within a large database, finding a certain item located in an inventory database, implementing searching methods within a library catalog, and the list can go on and on. 

Within this article two basic searching methods will be introduced and discussed. These two methods are the sequential search and the binary search. Each searching method has its pros and cons, which will be listed after each explanation.

It is essential to know these two types of searching and how they perform before moving on to more advanced searching methods. With each searching method walkthrough there will be an example followed by an implementation of the example to give you a better understanding of how each searching method works.