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In conjunction with Qualtrics, we have created an online business assessment. We recently began having problems, the program is suppose to be able to tabulate answers, coming up with
a percentage-type answer.

For example, "your score is 89 out of 120, or 78%." Recently, the computer has been spitting out-"your score is 89 out of 130, or infinitive %." I dont know or care where that infinitive word came from. The "computer guy" said it may be "due to a slow operating system that doesn't allow time to configure javascript". Can anyone explain in English what that might mean as it is Greek to us!

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    It means he doesn't know what's wrong.
    – Adam Prax
    Apr 4, 2011 at 22:03
  • or what he's doing
    – James Mertz
    Apr 5, 2011 at 7:11
  • ...probably infinitE %, to correct.
    – Ben
    Apr 5, 2011 at 7:15

4 Answers 4

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It means that you need to find a new computer guy.

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    Indeed, if that is truly what he said, I question his suitability...
    – Matthieu Cartier
    Apr 4, 2011 at 22:00
  • The other answers detail some of the issues here, but this summarizes the real issue.
    – music2myear
    Apr 4, 2011 at 22:18
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In straightforward English, as much as possible:

If you're talking about the online survey software, it's probably built with a lot of Javascript code.

Javascript is a coding language used to make ordinary webpages do interesting things. It'll make parts light up, or move, or some "behind the scenes" stuff to (hopefully) make the webpage easier to use.

You poke around webpages using software called a browser (like Internet Explorer or Firefox). All modern browsers know Javascript, and it's very very easy for the browser to use.

Your operating system is way different. It's what works between the programs on your computer, and the "brain" (computer chip). Windows will run various programs as you wish - like a browser.

So, if you have a halfway decent computer, and your Windows is running OK, then the browser shouldn't be a problem, and definitely not the Javascript IN the browser.

It sounds like the guy is throwing out big words but he doesn't know the problem.

It also sounds like there's a "bug" somewhere, some bad math, probably in the code that Qualtrics uses to write their webpage. This may or may not be Javascript.

Also, I might mention, the guy probably can't fix the problem, since it's probably specific to Qualtrics. They just need to fix the bug in their code.

enter image description here

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It sounds like he's trying to say you may have a "race condition" that shows up on slower machines but not faster ones.

Could it be that your javascript isn't setting up one or more variables (e.g. TotalNumberOfQuestions) before the portion of the page that calculates the score is executed.

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This is browser dependent more than operating system dependent. Try another browser, such as Firefox or Chrome.

Other than that, this excuse is really poor - Javascript does not have a window of time in which it can execute.

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