the reader has already seen such an algorithm in ss searching algorithms and their efficiency largely depends on the underlying data structure being used to store the data for instance it is quicker to determine whether an item is in hash table than it is an arraysimilarly it is quicker to search bst than it is linked list if you are going to search for data fairly often then we strongly advise that you sit down and research the data structures available to you in most cases using list or any other primarily linear data structure is down to lack of knowledge model your data and then research the data structures that best fit your scenario