First Occurrence in a Sorted Array
Finding the First Occurrence in a Sorted Array is a common problem in technical interviews and coding assessments. It involves identifying the index of the first time a given element appears in a sorted array. While a linear search can solve this, the binary search approach is more efficient, especially with large datasets. This optimization ensures better performance in real-time systems and applications where speed matters.
Linear Approach checks each element sequentially – simple but slower (O(n) time).
Binary Search Approach halves the search space – much faster (O(log n) time).
Helps in problems related to frequency counts, duplicates, and range queries.
Learn this concept in detail with code examples and explanations on PrepInsta: First Occurrence in a Sorted Array in Python – PrepInsta








