use strict;

my @array = (0..999);

# retrieve only the first 10 elements:
my @top_ten = @array[0..9];

print "$_\n" for @top_ten;

##</code><code>##

# ... original code
for ((sort { $counted{$b} <=> $counted{$a} } keys %counted)[0..2]) {
   # ... etc.
}

##</code><code>##

# pick one:
my $max = 2; # use [0..$max]
my $max = 3; # use [1..$max] or [0..$max-1]