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Binary Search and Edge Cases
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Binary Search and Edge Cases

EasyPython

Problem

GrabMart maintains item IDs in non-decreasing order for a local in-memory index. Given this sorted list and a target item ID, return the index of the first occurrence of the target. Return -1 if the target does not exist.

Implement an iterative binary search. Because duplicate IDs may appear, finding any matching index is not sufficient. When a match is found, record it and continue searching the left half.

Formal Specification

  • Input: item_ids, a list of integers sorted in non-decreasing order, and target, an integer.
  • Output: An integer containing the smallest index i such that item_ids[i] == target, or -1 when no such index exists.
  • The input list must not be modified.

Constraints

  • 0 <= len(item_ids) <= 100,000
  • -10^9 <= item_ids[i], target <= 10^9
  • item_ids is sorted in non-decreasing order
  • The input list must not be modified

Function Signature

def find_first_item_index(item_ids, target):
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