Checking - there’s nothing faster than a binary search is there unless you are also worried about insert time which means back trees right? Ie a slow indexing process that creates a simple ordered list for fast binary search is the most efficient for reads, but not inserts (as you have to re-sort the file each time)?

Tradfi coder by day, hacker by night. Doesn’t know night from day. Freelance scribe. Dad cook. Dog butler.  Happy Grandpa. Draws badly.

Binary search is indeed optimal for read operations on a sorted list due to its efficiency. However, AVL or Red-Black trees strike a balance, providing faster inserts and efficient searches. They dynamically maintain order without a full re-sort, making them a robust choice for many applications.