What does TOP mean ?

[Markus Demleitner]

Hi Arnold,

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 09:43:46AM -0400, Arnold Rots wrote:
> Yes, you need an observatory-specific model to calculate a score.
> By its very nature, therefore, it will only be a relative score.
> Example:
> For Chandra we implemented a score that is based on instrument, exposure
> time, and off-axis angle
> (PSF degrades with increasing off-axis angle).

Well, yes, that could be part of it, but the way I understand
things --

  [...] the general idea is that the better a candidate dataset
  matches the query, the higher the score it receives.  (1.1, P.27)

-- TOP's intended function is essentially like Google's ranking: it
gives "how well" a given returned row matches a data set.  Hence, for
a given dataset score would be different for different queries, and
while a global quality measure might play a role, it certainly
wouldn't be expected to dominate the response.  Or am I completely
off here?

And regarding Walter's interjection:

> I thought that the difference between MAXREC and TOP is that MAXREC
> requires an overflow indicator, while TOP would prohibit it.

Interesting thought -- is it intended to work this way? [it doesn't
in DaCHS, and a quick search in the 1.1 specs didn't give me anything
pointing in that direction]

Cheers,

        Markus