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
5 of 5
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - I took AP Computer Science A in high school, so I considered this class a relatively easy refresher, especially at the beginning, but I can honestly say that Prof. Wang is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. He makes decent slide show presentations, but that is about the extent of his "teaching" skills, as he spends the few lectures he bothers to show up to reading directly off the slides and is rarely able to answer student questions when they come up. His homework assignments are exceptionally easy for anyone with previous programming experience, and I considered his midterm relatively straightforward as well, but the class average was 57%, and based on what I heard from other students, much of the work was nearly impossible for those who had never coded before. Overall, I would take Prof. Wang for an easy A if you have a decent amount of programming experience, but otherwise, take this class with another professor.
Fall 2019 - I took AP Computer Science A in high school, so I considered this class a relatively easy refresher, especially at the beginning, but I can honestly say that Prof. Wang is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. He makes decent slide show presentations, but that is about the extent of his "teaching" skills, as he spends the few lectures he bothers to show up to reading directly off the slides and is rarely able to answer student questions when they come up. His homework assignments are exceptionally easy for anyone with previous programming experience, and I considered his midterm relatively straightforward as well, but the class average was 57%, and based on what I heard from other students, much of the work was nearly impossible for those who had never coded before. Overall, I would take Prof. Wang for an easy A if you have a decent amount of programming experience, but otherwise, take this class with another professor.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - My grade in this class does not align with my rating for this professor because I found myself self teaching a LOT in this class. The professor is very hard to understand and he speaks very quickly. I attended all of the lectures and discussions but honestly I don't know how helpful they are. I absolutely recommend using the textbook and finding youtube videos on topics you don't understand. These resources are the reason I was successful outside of class. The content is not that bad but I had to put in a lot of outside time for this class to make up for the professor being so unhelpful. Also he gave us no information on the format of the final before taking it and when someone asked for a practice test he simply said "no." All in all, it is definitely possible to do well in this class even with no prior coding experience like me but you definitely need to utilize resources outside of the professor.
Spring 2024 - My grade in this class does not align with my rating for this professor because I found myself self teaching a LOT in this class. The professor is very hard to understand and he speaks very quickly. I attended all of the lectures and discussions but honestly I don't know how helpful they are. I absolutely recommend using the textbook and finding youtube videos on topics you don't understand. These resources are the reason I was successful outside of class. The content is not that bad but I had to put in a lot of outside time for this class to make up for the professor being so unhelpful. Also he gave us no information on the format of the final before taking it and when someone asked for a practice test he simply said "no." All in all, it is definitely possible to do well in this class even with no prior coding experience like me but you definitely need to utilize resources outside of the professor.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - I'm finishing up this course this quarter, and have never felt more unprepared for a final exam. Avoid Zhang if you want a professor you can actually understand speaking English... I stopped going to lecture because she would just read off the slides in whatever sequence she wanted, not like I could understand her anyway. The course material (slides) themselves could also use some work, I used the textbook Big C++ for much of my self-teaching. The slides need to go deeper into syntax and focus less on the unclear examples she recites off.
Fall 2023 - I'm finishing up this course this quarter, and have never felt more unprepared for a final exam. Avoid Zhang if you want a professor you can actually understand speaking English... I stopped going to lecture because she would just read off the slides in whatever sequence she wanted, not like I could understand her anyway. The course material (slides) themselves could also use some work, I used the textbook Big C++ for much of my self-teaching. The slides need to go deeper into syntax and focus less on the unclear examples she recites off.
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5 of 5
