Not a horrible class, but I thought grading was pretty harsh if given grades are accurate. Like always, Sherriff is a very engaging and understanding professor and probably one of very few professors at UVA that can help make this class not absolutely dreadful, so if you have to take this class you should probably take it with Sherriff. Expect some TA's to be assholes. For some reason, I feel like Sherriff purposely hires asshole TA's and some are just bad at speaking and communicating in general. I understand we're in the computer science department here, but the people who are your main point of contact for help and grading with assignments should be somewhat better with this. Or at least they should be.

Haven't finished this class but thought I'd get things started here. I'm sure you're only taking this class because it's required. It's basically all a group project you do throughout the semester in groups of ~8 (can't choose your team). This semester it's creating a new voting system for Virginia elections. Next semester it will be something different. Tough project because you don't get much guidance (I guess the idea is that in real life nobody will be there to hold your hand). Very rewarding and good resume/interview material though. Lecture can be boring but it's pretty important stuff I guess. Not everyone is a fan of Sherriff but he definitely cares a lot about the class and that you get the most out of it. There's probably not a much better professor to take the class with. Overall, you won't love this class so just suck it up and get through it.