"""

First, see if target is larger then the largest or smaller then the smallest

If it is out of range, it is not in the `nums`.

Second, we use two pointers `l`, `r` to navigate our *binary search*.

For every iteration, we choose the index, middle between `l` and `r` as `p`.

If the value at `p` is larger than the target, we search the left-half by `r = p-1`.

If the value at `p` is smaller than the target, we search the right-half by `l = p+1`.

Continue this proccess, until we find the value.

If we can't find the value, then `l` and `r` are going to collapse. `return -1`

Another solution is to use [bisect](https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/bisect.html).

"""

class Solution(object):

def search(self, nums, target):

if nums is None or len(nums)==0: return -1

if target<nums[0] or nums[-1]<target: return -1 #test is out of range

l = 0

r = len(nums)-1

while r>=l:

if nums[l]==target: return l

if nums[r]==target: return r

p = (l+r)/2

if nums[p]==target:

return p

elif nums[p]>target:

r = p-1

else:

l = p+1

return -1

import bisect

class Solution(object):

def search(self, nums, target):

if nums is None or len(nums)==0: return -1

if target<nums[0] or nums[-1]<target: return -1 #check if out of range

i = bisect.bisect_left(nums, target)

#check if target in `nums`

if nums[i]==target: return i

else: return -1