Yahoo! Answers: Code for qid=20120819133145AAdBf2E

LinearStringSearch.java

/**
 * From Yahoo! Answers: "Writing a Java linear search algorithm that 
 *      uses generics and has an array that store any data..."
 * http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120819133145AAdBf2E
 */
public class LinearStringSearch {

	public static <AnyType extends Comparable<? super AnyType>> int LinearSearch(
			AnyType target, AnyType[] sa) {
		for (int i = 0; i < sa.length; ++i) {
			if (sa[i] == target) {
				return i;
			}
		}
		return -1;
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		Integer[] list = new Integer[6];
		for (int i = 0; i < list.length; ++i) {
			list[i] = i;
		}
		
		int result = LinearSearch(new Integer(3), list);
		if (result == -1) {
			System.out.println("Not found");
		} else {
			System.out.println("[] = \"5\"");
		}
	}
}