How to extract x top int values from a map in Golang?

Question

I have a map[string]int

I want to get the x top values from it and store them in another data structure, another map or a slice. From https://blog.golang.org/go-maps-in-action#TOC_7. I understood that:

When iterating over a map with a range loop, the iteration order is not specified and is not guaranteed to be the same from one iteration to the next.

so the result structure will be a slice then.

I had a look at several related topics but none fits my problem:

related topic 1

related topic 2

related topic 3

What would be the most efficient way to do this please?

Thanks,

Edit: My solution would be to turn my map into a slice and sort it, then extract the first x values.
But is there a better way ?

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "sort"
)

func main() {

    // I want the x top values
    x := 3

    // Here is the map
    m := make(map[string]int)
    m["k1"] = 7
    m["k2"] = 31
    m["k3"] = 24
    m["k4"] = 13
    m["k5"] = 31
    m["k6"] = 12
    m["k7"] = 25
    m["k8"] = -8
    m["k9"] = -76
    m["k10"] = 22
    m["k11"] = 76

    // Turning the map into this structure
    type kv struct {
        Key   string
        Value int
    }

    var ss []kv
    for k, v := range m {
        ss = append(ss, kv{k, v})
    }

    // Then sorting the slice by value, higher first.
    sort.Slice(ss, func(i, j int) bool {
        return ss[i].Value > ss[j].Value
    })

    // Print the x top values
    for _, kv := range ss[:x] {
        fmt.Printf("%s, %d\n", kv.Key, kv.Value)
    }
}

Link to golang playground example

If I want to have a map at the end with the x top values, then with my solution I would have to turn the slice into a map again. Would this still be the most efficient way to do it?

Answer 1

Creating a slice and sorting is a fine solution; however, you could also use a heap. The Big O performance should be equal for both implementations (n log n) so this is a viable alternative with the advantage that if you want to add new entries you can still efficiently access the top N items without repeatedly sorting the entire set.

To use a heap, you would implement the heap.Interface for the kv type with a Less function that compares Values as greater than (h[i].Value > h[j].Value), add all of the entries from the map, and then pop the number of items you want to use.

For example (Go Playground):

func main() {
  m := getMap()

  // Create a heap from the map and print the top N values.
  h := getHeap(m)
  for i := 1; i <= 3; i++ {
    fmt.Printf("%d) %#v\n", i, heap.Pop(h))
  }
  // 1) main.kv{Key:"k11", Value:76}
  // 2) main.kv{Key:"k2", Value:31}
  // 3) main.kv{Key:"k5", Value:31}
}

func getHeap(m map[string]int) *KVHeap {
  h := &KVHeap{}
  heap.Init(h)
  for k, v := range m {
    heap.Push(h, kv{k, v})
  }
  return h
}

// See https://golang.org/pkg/container/heap/
type KVHeap []kv

// Note that "Less" is greater-than here so we can pop *larger* items.
func (h KVHeap) Less(i, j int) bool { return h[i].Value > h[j].Value }
func (h KVHeap) Swap(i, j int)      { h[i], h[j] = h[j], h[i] }
func (h KVHeap) Len() int           { return len(h) }

func (h *KVHeap) Push(x interface{}) {
  *h = append(*h, x.(kv))
}

func (h *KVHeap) Pop() interface{} {
  old := *h
  n := len(old)
  x := old[n-1]
  *h = old[0 : n-1]
  return x
}