2151: A/B

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A/B

Title text: We wrote our site in Linear A rather than Askara Kawi because browser testing showed that Crete script rendered faster than Java script.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Written in MYCENEAN GREEK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

A/B testing refers to any controlled experiment where test subjects are split into two groups (the titular A and B) to compare their reactions to a product, and the product with a slight variation, most often used for market research. For example, a website might appear the same to different users except for a different font, so that the operators of the site can determine how the font affects the user's interaction with the site (time spent on it, clicks, purchases, etc).

Linear A is an as-yet undeciphered writing system of the ancient Minoan civilization. It appears similar to the deciphered Linear B writing system, but if the pronunciation rules of Linear B are applied to Linear A, it produces a language unrelated to any known language.

Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek.

The comic jokingly suggests that the choice of writing system could be decided through A/B testing. The test subject apparently can read either Linear A or Linear B, but not the alternative, which the title text suggests is Askara Kawi, a writing system used on the island of Java (today part of Indonesia). This suggests that the subject is Greek, and Askara Kawi is Greek to him.

The title text also reveals the reason why the writing systems are being tested on a computer: they are not being used to encode the information presented to the user (i.e. natural language), but the code which defines how or what is presented to the user (i.e. programming language).

Askara Kawi was chosen as the control group because, apparently, knowing it was a script (i.e. a writing system) from the island of Java, it was misinterpreted as what it meant to use JavaScript, which is a common way to encode dynamic content on webpages.

Linear A and Linear B are also script engines used in early versions of the Opera web browser.

Transcript

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Discussion

Came straight to this site after trying to read today's comic172.68.230.22 16:33, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, no kidding! Usually I get the majority of the comic and I come here for the finer points and title text (I browse these sites on my iPad, no mouse with which to see the "MouseOver text"). But this one, *whiff!*, right over my head! LOL! NiceGuy1 (talk) 04:09, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

@NiceGuy: You can touch and hold on the image to see the mouseOver text. --172.68.182.136 06:47, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

Years now of reading XKCD (including a couple of years before I joined this site), over two different iPads, and I never knew that! Thanks! I only know holding pictures for if I want to save them, and if I want to do that (which I often do to share on Facebook, if I share the link Facebook insists on picking the wrong picture for the preview), I open the Full Size link listed on the comic first (which obviously doesn't have the text). NiceGuy1 (talk) 04:21, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

The title text refers to "Java script", which probably is meant to reference both the programming language Java and the completely different programming language JavaScript. While the former is almost never referenced with the word script afterwards, the latter is also never referenced with a space in the middle of the word. Hence, it seems meant to further confuse which language is actually being referenced. 172.68.132.77 16:39, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

The title text is a pun. "Java script" means the writing system used on the island of Java, while "JavaScript" is a programming language used mainly in browsers. Barmar (talk) 16:51, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

I'm not seeing any relevance to "It's Greek to me." I think that's just a coincidence HisHighestMinion (talk) 17:58, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

Is this actually an example of A/B testing? It seems like Cueball is in both the A and B groups (ie. he got to see both Linear A and Linear B, and compared the two). That doesn't seem to fit the definition of A/B testing which is about showing each of two random groups a different thing. Hawthorn (talk) 19:55, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

"Linear A, on the other hand, . . . ." doesn't make much sense as the first item of a list. I would expect "Linear A, blah, blah blah . . . . Linear B, on the other hand, blah, blah, blah . . . ." 162.158.214.34 23:34, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

I edited the explanation to try to address these last two comments from other readers. I also reworded/reordered the title text explanation to highlight the "Java script" pun a bit, as well as explain how performance testing determined that Linear A script rendered faster than Aksara Kawi script. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 00:11, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

I wonder if it's worth mentioning that per the title text the site is written in Linear A despite the fact that Cueball described it as gibberish in the main comic panel. This may be a reference to how programming languages usually appear as gibberish to normal users (i.e. non-programmers). Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 00:15, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

https://web.archive.org/web/20190516074849/https:/phys.org/news/2019-05-bristol-academic-voynich-code-century-old.html [Comet] 20:15, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

I don’t see any meaningful connection to the Voynich manuscript. It is not true that they used “a stochastic methodology,” they [[1]] to have realized it was abbreviations. Furthermore the claim that they decided it at all is widely dismissed as untrue. Finally, I don’t see any obvious reason to believe that these Linear A / Linear B testers are using a stochastic technique. I would recommend removing the tag for further elaboration on this connection unless the claim of similarity can be substantiated. Stellaathena (talk) 13:51, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Request

Can someone please make a re-mix of xkcd #435 with this #2151 embedded inside it, two spaces over on the left (like math is one space over on the right of the scale) with the caption "Linguistics" under it? 172.68.142.197 18:48, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

Nice nerd affirming coincidence

So funny, just yesterday this book Solving Linear B (John Chadwick) caught my eye on a shelf of free books. It was Saturday and I was out with friends music blaring, and they would pick on me for reading this book. Brought it home, completely new topic to me - and today I actually understood this one! It warms my heart, I really am a confirmed nerd.

i once made a similar pun regarding the fact "script" also refers to the dialogs of a movie: how do you call a javanese film's dialogs? java script An user who has no account yet (talk) 10:28, 3 September 2023 (UTC)