getTopItems

getTopItems is a generic utility function used in programming to retrieve the highest-ranked items from a collection. It is commonly implemented in libraries or written in application code to simplify extracting a subset of top-scoring elements based on a defined ranking criterion.

A typical signature includes a collection of items, a count n for how many top items to return, and optional parameters to specify the ranking. Optional arguments often include a key function that maps an item to a numeric score, a comparator to determine order, and a flag to indicate stable ordering. The function can operate in different modes: a straightforward sort of the entire collection followed by taking the first n items, or a more efficient approach using partial sorting or a min-heap to identify the top n without fully sorting all items.

Return values are usually an array or list containing the top n items, preserving the input item type. If n exceeds the collection size, all items are returned. When scores are tied, implementation choices vary: some maintain input order (stable), while others apply the comparator to break ties.

Common use cases include leaderboards, recommendation lists, and search result ranking where only a subset of items is needed for display. Edge cases to consider include n being non-positive, empty input collections, and items with missing or null scores. In performance-constrained contexts, partial sorting or streaming top-k approaches are preferred over full sorts for large datasets.

getTopItems is related to sorting, top-k selection algorithms, and heap-based methods. It provides a concise way to express a frequently used operation in data processing, analytics, and user-facing sorting tasks.