Go to Luther's office hours!!!! This is the best advice I can give. I started going halfway through the class and it helped my understanding so much (and you get your HW done much faster than having to deal with TA office hours). When I went I was the only one there so it was more like a tutoring session - he said this was abnormal though and saw a lot more people at his office hours in previous semesters. He is a great teacher and the class was very well done.

Course starts off very easily, but in the last couple of months the difficulty of the weekly assignments spikes significantly. Be prepared for that. Otherwise, if you have a good logical mind, this is a straightforward and interesting class. A solid intro to programming skills/concepts.

I loved this class! I went in thinking I would just take 1110, but now I'm continuing on in CS! Tychonievich is a great lecturer and gets bonus points for posting lecture videos online (which is awesome, because if you miss class, you don't actually miss class!) and for all his drawings at the beginning of class! He explains everything in a really clear way, and maximizes every minute of lecture. The only problem is the system for TA office hours: it's based on how many minutes you've spent with a TA at office hours throughout the semester. Some of the programming assignments get tricky towards the end, and by the last assignment I had to wait 4 hours to get help from a TA, because I had spent like 40 minutes of TA time over the semester thus far, which makes me feel like I'm being penalized for asking for help. Overall, this class was great! I thought Tychonievich was a great lecturer with a quirky sense of humor (and knee socks on lecture days), who explained things in a way people with no programming experience could understand. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who's even a little interested in CS!

Tychonievich is an engaging, fun, knowledgeable, and satisfyingly quirky professor. I thoroughly enjoy attending his lectures, despite the fact that he discourages you from attending them (he posts videos of all the lectures online). If you can, I highly recommend taking this class with Tychonievich!

This course was splendid. The weekly projects were swell. Tychonievich is a really fun lecturer, and the exams accurately reflect the homework assignments and lecture stuffs. 12/10 would recommend!

To preface: I think CS is a very very important subject of study. I will be moving on to CS 2110 despite my potential majors having nothing at all to do with CS (humanities or social science related), because programming is increasingly important in every field. I would recommend taking CS 1110 (over 1010 if you plan to go on) to anybody in any major. That said, Luther Tychoneivich is one of the most unpleasant people I have ever come across. During lecture, he gives off an approachable persona because he is so into computers, but he is so unbelievably condescending if you ever dare to waste his time by asking a question after class. He tries to make a large lecture hall seem smaller by attempting to engage us, which is a good thing, but he is not very effective at making the classroom seem like an inviting place for question and answer (which is important when trying to learn a skill like programming). To every test, he wore a three piece tuxedo, which sounds entertaining, but it really just make me uncomfortable. I made eye contact with him during each of the first two tests, and he came charging at me like a bespectacled bull and brought me to a new seat which was both unnecessary and embarrassing. Forget about emails. He was just a jerk in those. TAs will be your lifeline. I found them to be extremely helpful and overall receptive to those who were having a little more trouble than most. Big thumbs up to the TAs. The grading is very fair. Many grades consist of completion work and group projects can earn extra credit, so I think they're doing it right in those two regards. I just want to reiterate: DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH TYCHONIEVICH. Sherriff is much nicer, a better lecturer (my classmates and I thought Tychonievich went too quickly and my friends in Sherriff's sections never dealt with that), and not nearly as rude. My CS experience has been tainted by my professor. The only reason I'm choosing to continue is because I understand how useful CS will be for me. I'm hoping 2110 can salvage my college CS career.

This course started off easy but got difficult after the first exam. Tychonievich is a great teacher, and the course really pads your grade with lab (completion) grades, POTD (homework) grades, and project grades that count for a lot and are graded very leniently, so even if you are only an average coder like me, it's very easy to get an A.

I came into this class with no prior coding experience whatsoever. I scored above average on all the tests, worked hard, and ended up with an A in the class, so it's possible.

Professor Tychonievich is a very good professor who cares about his students. He is always open to students asking questions in lecture, is energetic, knows his stuff, and always tries to make the class fun. I think he's about as good as you can get for a CS professor of a large class.

The first 6 POTDs were easy, and then I started needing to ask for help & go to office hours, often for hours on end. However, the TAs are usually very helpful in getting you started with your program, so there's no reason you shouldn't do well on your POTDs if you go to office hours. The hardest part of the class for me was in the middle- then it became easier for me.

The first test was the one that challenged me the most (just because of the one long coding question) , but I did well, and the second test was fine. The final was difficult, but they curved it four points. The best way to study for the first two is do a lot of practice problems/ CodingBat. The final was more theoretical.

Overall, the class is really worth it. I really enjoy CS, and if you work hard, you'll get a lot out of it! They're switching to Python in 1110 next semester, so that should be interesting. If you're considering a CS major and have had no experience, I'd take 1110 because I've heard it prepares you more for upper-level classes than 1112.

I definitely recommend this class. Came in having taken one intro CS class in high school, albeit in Python. Luther is very energetic and makes a topic that could be dry to lecture about very interesting. He codes very fast in class, but will post lecture notes and code online afterwards if you don't catch it. HW assignments are not hard and the grader gives you feedback, which gives you several attempts to get it right. The two major projects were pretty straightforward and they'll give you extra credit for adding features, which you should definitely try to do. Tests were ok--they made the final more conceptual this year and I felt like it wasn't indicative of my ability to program, but if you study the specifics of what they go over in class and tool around with edge cases on your own, you should have no problem.

This class was the most frustrating combination of interesting and stressful, at least for someone who's never taken a day of computer-related class in their life. I came in with absolutely zero coding experience and am leaving with a decently good grade, but the programs you write for homework along with the two major projects you have to code make this a pretty stressful course with a fast pace. If you have to take this as a requirement in e-school, take a deep breath and try to soak up all the lecture material. It helps to go to class, follow along in the textbook, and GO TO TA OFFICE HOURS. They'll explain the world to you. Professor Tychonievich knows what he's talking about basically 100% of the time, but he can be a hard man to reach. Overall I'd say this is worthwhile for the experience, but don't take it if you think it'll be an easy A. It won't be.