the prof is super nice, but the lectures aren't really necessary. you can go anyway though for extra credit by answering questions in class. the exams are also fairly simple, with the opportunity to retake one of them at the end of the semester. the assignments are entirely teamwork (with the option to work alone, but it's a lot more work because you have to do it all yourself), which isn't that bad because every assignment can pretty clearly be divided into three parts (three is the max amount of teammates you can have). the TAs are also pretty helpful if you get stuck (you can go to office hours by yourself or you can bring your team). overall, pretty light for a cs class, doesn't take that much maintenance to get an A.

Prof. Nguyen is great! He explains concepts clearly and effectively, and knows how to make lectures engaging through interactive activities. Overall, this course wasn't too bad. The main focus is the homework assignments, which could be somewhat time-consuming. For some of them, I had to go to office hours, so make sure to start them early and plan your time well. The exams were also pretty straightforward but he made the later ones more coding-heavy-- as long as you study the code examples, though, you should be fine. You also had the ability to retake an exam, and pretty much everyone I know did extremely well on the retake. This class teaches a lot of interesting and useful concepts so you will get a lot out of it!

Professor Nguyen was my favorite CS teacher so far. He is very personable doing his best to know students names in a huge class. He's fairly lenient on deadlines pushing them back if theres every a slight issue. The exams aren't too difficult and he gives the opportunity for a make up at the end of the year. If you have the opportunity to take this class with him, id highly reccomend.

It was a good class, it's the kind of class where if you do certain things you can pretty much guarantee an A. Those things are: (1) have the programming projects mostly finished at least 24 hrs before they are due and (2) make sure you can answer quiz questions without cheating. I didn't go to lecture and finished with an A, but kept an eye on readings/slides as they were released so I still did well on the exams. I will say the trickiest part of the exams is sometimes you were required to memorize the syntax of particular libraries. So when new frameworks and stuff is introduced to you in the readings, it will help to build stuff with it, or when you split up work in group projects, try your hand at all the frameworks involved in the project just so you can get a feel for the syntax bc it will show up on tests

This class is actually the worst ever. Not only do you get penalised for the work of your other groupmates but the grading is harsh and absolutely zero leniency is given. The exams suck and its basically just memorising a bunch of syntax but prof Rich is a sweet guy. Lowkey only take this class if its necessary for you to because most people just use AI on the whole thing anyways

- Lectures are dull

- Every assignment besides the final one is easy if you plan with teammates and go to office hours

- The final assignment is tough but very doable and you have a lot of time to do it

- Exams are annoying but if you just study the slide shows you'll be fine

- Professor is a chill dude

Out of all the CS classes I've taken so far, this one has been the best so far. The course content is really useful, and it really changes the way you think, plan, and write software in a really beneficial way. Most of your grade is the homework assignments which are done in teams. If you want to do well on those assignments, make sure to pick good group members and plan ahead to finish the assignment early. Also, don't procrastinate hw, they take longer than it might seem at first, and all it takes is one small, last-minute change to introduce a bug that can take off a lot of points. I also recommend going to office hours as needed as its a great resource for getting help.

Overall, the course isn't too bad, but it is pretty time-consuming. The class includes 6 group projects that you complete throughout the semester. These aren't too bad, however, they don't show you an auto grader so you have to create your own test cases. It is definitely more difficult to do well on these assignments than normal coding assignments in other courses. You should start them early and spend a considerable amount of time on these assignments, especially the later ones. You should also try to plan out your group early on, otherwise it might be hard to find a group.

Otherwise, the exams aren't too bad, no trick questions, and pretty straight forward. Overall, I think it was a pretty fair exam. The final had a lot of written sections that were looking for specific wording in the answers, so when studying, I would pretty much brute memorize the slides/lecture.

Overall, the course was very structured and easy to follow, professor is very very nice and really makes himself available as a resource to his students. He's very understanding, and it definitely would be worth the time to get to know him!

This class jumps around a lot and there's a lot of stuff to keep track of but it's overall a reasonable amount of work, and you learn some cool stuff. Professor Nguyen organizes each lecture into a "module" with readings and videos as well. I went to lecture mostly but it's not really necessary because the videos just cover the same topics. Professor Nguyen is really organized and also understanding of when the course might be moving too fast.

Your grade is composed mainly (65%) from 6 group homeworks. As long as you have a good group (you can work with the same people up to 4 times) and get on top of these early, they will not be that bad at all. 10% is based off of "quizzes" that are free and designed to make sure you are understanding the big topics. There are 2 exams worth 10% each. These were definitely the hardest part because there's so much information to know so try to study for these as much as you can, but they also aren't worth that much. Finally there was a professional reflection worth 5% where you have to do an unnecessary amount of writing. There is also a lot of opportunities for extra credit.

Overall this course is really manageable compared to other required CS classes. You learn a lot of different skills like testing, JavaFX, SQL, JSON, etc. that are really applicable. Get a good group, stay on top of the lectures, and you will do well in the class.
#tCFS24

This course was well-structured and materials, resources, and expectations communicated and accessible. The course topics were aligned really well with the assigned homework assignments. I appreciated how the topics and concepts covered in the course taught real-world skills that I know will be helpful down the line in my computer science career. This course is the reason I decided to major in computer science. The recorded lectures and detailed readings meant that I got to move through materials at my own pace which I found very helpful. Every assignment is meant to be done in groupwork which can take some time getting used to, but I valued that it emulated what it would be like to work on a professional software development team.

The one aspect of the course I wish was different would be to include the ability to earn back points of homework after receiving feedback. I think this would make the course even more realistic to what it means to be a software engineer in the real world: receiving feedback from a client and making necessary changes to improve the program. It would also offer valuable learning opportunities to enhance student engagement with the content.

Some tips for those coming into the course: start homeworks early, utilize TA office hours, find a good group (it's worth it), many of the quiz questions come directly from assigned readings, get familiar with the aspects of your program-- especially those concepts that were completed by partners, and make sure you understand all content on practice exams (the exams look very similar conceptually but differ with exact questions/answers.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable, project-based course that has given me a strong understanding of engineering programs and a joy to do so!

#tCFS24