COMPTNG 10A
Introduction to Programming
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours; laboratory, eight hours. No prior programming experience assumed. Basic principles of programming, using C++; algorithmic, procedural problem solving; program design and development; basic data types, control structures and functions; functional arrays and pointers; introduction to classes for programmer-defined data types. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
4 of 5
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Courses Taken: PIC 10A AND PIC 10B The most important thing to know about Prof. Ouellette is that he does not curve. He cares about his students and is a nice guy, but it is very difficult to get a good grade. PIC 10A: The first half of pic 10A is very easy, then it gets moderately difficult. I did well above average on all the exams, 100% on the homework assignments, ended up with a B in the class. That is because he did not curve the class, and my raw score was a B. I felt that my comprehension of the material was at an A- level, but I accepted the B and enrolled in his 10B class. PIC 10B: The hardest class I've taken at UCLA. On the first day of class, the class and waitlist were full with around 65 students. After the first midterm, only 40 of us remained in the class. The exams were very difficult. Still, Ouellette cares about his students. He's always in the PIC lab helping us with homework, and he once sat down with me for two hours to go over my past exams with me. Such a nice person, but does not give generous grades. I ended up failing PIC 10B and I know I was not the only one. I will be retaking the class with another professor. His Grading Scheme: 30% homework 15% Midterm 1, 15% Midterm 2 40% final Tip: Check the testbank, he repeats questions and format year to year. Good luck!
Courses Taken: PIC 10A AND PIC 10B The most important thing to know about Prof. Ouellette is that he does not curve. He cares about his students and is a nice guy, but it is very difficult to get a good grade. PIC 10A: The first half of pic 10A is very easy, then it gets moderately difficult. I did well above average on all the exams, 100% on the homework assignments, ended up with a B in the class. That is because he did not curve the class, and my raw score was a B. I felt that my comprehension of the material was at an A- level, but I accepted the B and enrolled in his 10B class. PIC 10B: The hardest class I've taken at UCLA. On the first day of class, the class and waitlist were full with around 65 students. After the first midterm, only 40 of us remained in the class. The exams were very difficult. Still, Ouellette cares about his students. He's always in the PIC lab helping us with homework, and he once sat down with me for two hours to go over my past exams with me. Such a nice person, but does not give generous grades. I ended up failing PIC 10B and I know I was not the only one. I will be retaking the class with another professor. His Grading Scheme: 30% homework 15% Midterm 1, 15% Midterm 2 40% final Tip: Check the testbank, he repeats questions and format year to year. Good luck!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I loved taking PIC 10A with Michael and would take it again with him if I had the chance. I had no programming experience before this class other than a little bit of self-taught MATLAB, but I managed to pull through in the end with an A+ because Michael was that good at teaching us how to program with C++. The homework assignments were fair and built directly off of the material from lectures. There were 7 in total. I would say each assignment took somewhere between 1 and 12 hours, with the final assignment taking the longest. Homework comprised 80% of the final grade, while the midterm and final accounted for for 5% and 15%, respectively. Michael was also extremely quick to respond to my emails whenever I had a question, which I appreciated, and was overall very concerned with student learning since he stopped at certain moments during the lectures to allow students to ask questions. Although his sense of humor didn’t really click with me, he often *tried* to be funny during lecture and even had a few curse-word gaffs because he felt so comfortable talking with us.
Fall 2020 - I loved taking PIC 10A with Michael and would take it again with him if I had the chance. I had no programming experience before this class other than a little bit of self-taught MATLAB, but I managed to pull through in the end with an A+ because Michael was that good at teaching us how to program with C++. The homework assignments were fair and built directly off of the material from lectures. There were 7 in total. I would say each assignment took somewhere between 1 and 12 hours, with the final assignment taking the longest. Homework comprised 80% of the final grade, while the midterm and final accounted for for 5% and 15%, respectively. Michael was also extremely quick to respond to my emails whenever I had a question, which I appreciated, and was overall very concerned with student learning since he stopped at certain moments during the lectures to allow students to ask questions. Although his sense of humor didn’t really click with me, he often *tried* to be funny during lecture and even had a few curse-word gaffs because he felt so comfortable talking with us.
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Winter 2021 - Professor Pham is such an incredible and caring professor. I took the class in Winter 2021 online, so the circumstances may be different, but he does his best to cover the material thoroughly so that students understand all of the course material. The class is much easier with prior experience in coding (ie. Java, AP Comp Sci, etc.), but it also shouldn't be a problem if you're a brand new coder. Note: I took AP Comp Sci in HS, so I can't speak for everyone else in the class, but I also went to every lecture instead of watching the recordings (I think in the end, only about 20 students ever showed up to the live lectures). The grade distribution is as follows: 30% Homework, 20% Quizzes, 20% Midterm, 30% Final. The homework was a coding assignment due Sunday at 11:59pm each week (except the first 2 weeks) that consisted of 2-3 coding problems (increasing difficulty over time because of new concepts learned). They were too hard overall, but don't try to start last minute on the weekend (I recommend working on it throughout the week so you have time to ask questions during office hours). There were 3 quizzes administered on CCLE (about 5 multiple choice questions and 1-2 short answer questions). The third quiz was the hardest (as expected), but the first two were pretty easy imo. The midterm was available for 24 hours (because of COVID) and was designed to be a 1-hour exam (although it took me longer, maybe 2-3 hours). The exam had true/false questions, short answer questions, and coding problems, and the difficulty of the exam was around what I had expected (not too hard, but did take a while to complete). And lastly, the final was also available for 24 hours and was designed to be a 3-hour exam, but it took me about 10 hours (but I was also working on another exam that day), and it had the same format as the midterm. It was much harder than the midterm in terms of the coding problems, but it was definitely doable, so be prepared for this. Now, the exams and assessments seemed like a lot, but they really weren't. He drops the 2 lowest homework assignments. And because of COVID and looking at everyone's grades, he decided to give a bunch of extra credit (1% for Gradescope demo and 1% for instructor evaluations), and he also rounded your total score if you were within 1% of the next grading cutoff. The professor does a bunch of coding demos during the lecture, so make sure to pay attention to those, because (1) they're really helpful in understanding how to apply certain concepts or keywords and (2) he used some of the lecture demos in the final. He listed a textbook in the syllabus, but I never used it throughout the entire quarter because all of the material ever needed for the class was discussed pretty well in the lectures. I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND taking his class, because his grading is so incredibly nice (a bunch of extra credit + rounding), and he truly wants to help students get a good grade while understanding the material for the class. However, don't try to slack off, especially if you're new at coding, because the difficulty of material increases throughout the quarter. Also, if you ever need help, he is very nice and is willing to help you step-by-step during office hours.
Winter 2021 - Professor Pham is such an incredible and caring professor. I took the class in Winter 2021 online, so the circumstances may be different, but he does his best to cover the material thoroughly so that students understand all of the course material. The class is much easier with prior experience in coding (ie. Java, AP Comp Sci, etc.), but it also shouldn't be a problem if you're a brand new coder. Note: I took AP Comp Sci in HS, so I can't speak for everyone else in the class, but I also went to every lecture instead of watching the recordings (I think in the end, only about 20 students ever showed up to the live lectures). The grade distribution is as follows: 30% Homework, 20% Quizzes, 20% Midterm, 30% Final. The homework was a coding assignment due Sunday at 11:59pm each week (except the first 2 weeks) that consisted of 2-3 coding problems (increasing difficulty over time because of new concepts learned). They were too hard overall, but don't try to start last minute on the weekend (I recommend working on it throughout the week so you have time to ask questions during office hours). There were 3 quizzes administered on CCLE (about 5 multiple choice questions and 1-2 short answer questions). The third quiz was the hardest (as expected), but the first two were pretty easy imo. The midterm was available for 24 hours (because of COVID) and was designed to be a 1-hour exam (although it took me longer, maybe 2-3 hours). The exam had true/false questions, short answer questions, and coding problems, and the difficulty of the exam was around what I had expected (not too hard, but did take a while to complete). And lastly, the final was also available for 24 hours and was designed to be a 3-hour exam, but it took me about 10 hours (but I was also working on another exam that day), and it had the same format as the midterm. It was much harder than the midterm in terms of the coding problems, but it was definitely doable, so be prepared for this. Now, the exams and assessments seemed like a lot, but they really weren't. He drops the 2 lowest homework assignments. And because of COVID and looking at everyone's grades, he decided to give a bunch of extra credit (1% for Gradescope demo and 1% for instructor evaluations), and he also rounded your total score if you were within 1% of the next grading cutoff. The professor does a bunch of coding demos during the lecture, so make sure to pay attention to those, because (1) they're really helpful in understanding how to apply certain concepts or keywords and (2) he used some of the lecture demos in the final. He listed a textbook in the syllabus, but I never used it throughout the entire quarter because all of the material ever needed for the class was discussed pretty well in the lectures. I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND taking his class, because his grading is so incredibly nice (a bunch of extra credit + rounding), and he truly wants to help students get a good grade while understanding the material for the class. However, don't try to slack off, especially if you're new at coding, because the difficulty of material increases throughout the quarter. Also, if you ever need help, he is very nice and is willing to help you step-by-step during office hours.
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Winter 2017 - I highly discourage taking PIC 10A with Professor Radke, especially if you intend to pursue the Specialization in Computing. The course was extremely simplistic when Radke taught it, and does not compare in rigor to any of the other PIC 10A professors. The assignments are very simple and can all be completed in half an hour, and the course inadequately prepares you for the rest of the PIC 10 sequence. It doesn't really help that Professor Radke is such a boring lecturer.
Winter 2017 - I highly discourage taking PIC 10A with Professor Radke, especially if you intend to pursue the Specialization in Computing. The course was extremely simplistic when Radke taught it, and does not compare in rigor to any of the other PIC 10A professors. The assignments are very simple and can all be completed in half an hour, and the course inadequately prepares you for the rest of the PIC 10 sequence. It doesn't really help that Professor Radke is such a boring lecturer.
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Winter 2017 - Frankly, I really enjoyed this class. I'm a cog-sci major and am going to specialize in programming (but am not a "math wiz" so to speak) and I found Ryu's teaching to be very manageable and fair. When I was in this class, the lectures were BruinCast since they were 8 AMs and he said that he hated 8 AMs too when he was in college. The lectures build up on themselves and as long as you keep up with the homework and the slides, you should be fine. However, you MUST do your own work. It's okay to google how to do a homework problem if you are absolutely lost, but Ryu responds within hours on the CCLE discussion board. So if you have a question, he's always there to answer. The class is graded on a curve, so even though I got lazy with finishing some of the homeworks and not doing as well on the final as I had on the midterm, I got a B+. I also never went to lecture or discussion (discussion is definitely pointless unless you really need the help). I felt that the midterm and final were fair; they tested your critical thinking more than anything else, which is what programming is essentially all about. I tend to prefer that over memorization. Overall, would take again.
Winter 2017 - Frankly, I really enjoyed this class. I'm a cog-sci major and am going to specialize in programming (but am not a "math wiz" so to speak) and I found Ryu's teaching to be very manageable and fair. When I was in this class, the lectures were BruinCast since they were 8 AMs and he said that he hated 8 AMs too when he was in college. The lectures build up on themselves and as long as you keep up with the homework and the slides, you should be fine. However, you MUST do your own work. It's okay to google how to do a homework problem if you are absolutely lost, but Ryu responds within hours on the CCLE discussion board. So if you have a question, he's always there to answer. The class is graded on a curve, so even though I got lazy with finishing some of the homeworks and not doing as well on the final as I had on the midterm, I got a B+. I also never went to lecture or discussion (discussion is definitely pointless unless you really need the help). I felt that the midterm and final were fair; they tested your critical thinking more than anything else, which is what programming is essentially all about. I tend to prefer that over memorization. Overall, would take again.
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Fall 2018 - I went into this class with a year of prior coding experience so I thought I would be okay but man, I had to work really hard for that A-. In the beginning, the class and homework assignments were not that bad, but I believe it was homework 4 took me SUCH a long time to figure out. We also do graphics which even CS 31 does not learn because graphics in C++ is just inefficient and rather ugly and no one uses C++ for that reason. Salazar was a genuinely nice person when you went into office hours but his lectures were long and boring, causing me to fall asleep on multiple occasions. He mumbles a lot which made it very difficult to follow on. Overall, do not recommend the teacher, but would recommend the class if you just want some programming experience.
Fall 2018 - I went into this class with a year of prior coding experience so I thought I would be okay but man, I had to work really hard for that A-. In the beginning, the class and homework assignments were not that bad, but I believe it was homework 4 took me SUCH a long time to figure out. We also do graphics which even CS 31 does not learn because graphics in C++ is just inefficient and rather ugly and no one uses C++ for that reason. Salazar was a genuinely nice person when you went into office hours but his lectures were long and boring, causing me to fall asleep on multiple occasions. He mumbles a lot which made it very difficult to follow on. Overall, do not recommend the teacher, but would recommend the class if you just want some programming experience.
Most Helpful Review
The professor provides slides in lecture and posts them online later, which is helpful. Mostly, it is difficult to learn during lecture because it goes quickly; a lot of the learning is put upon the TAs (you have to get a good one). Homework is 30% and very manageable if you go to office hours for either the TAs or the professor. The two midterms are each 20% and are also manageable, but very tricky. He provides practice midterms, so definitely use those. The final is worth 30% as well. It's about the same difficulty as the midterms. He also provides practice finals (though not from his own finals). Overall, I had to depend on my TA for learning, and the class is A LOT of work and time and effort.
The professor provides slides in lecture and posts them online later, which is helpful. Mostly, it is difficult to learn during lecture because it goes quickly; a lot of the learning is put upon the TAs (you have to get a good one). Homework is 30% and very manageable if you go to office hours for either the TAs or the professor. The two midterms are each 20% and are also manageable, but very tricky. He provides practice midterms, so definitely use those. The final is worth 30% as well. It's about the same difficulty as the midterms. He also provides practice finals (though not from his own finals). Overall, I had to depend on my TA for learning, and the class is A LOT of work and time and effort.
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4 of 5
