COMPTNG 40A
Introduction to Programming for Internet
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Requisites: course 10A or Computer Science 31 or equivalent, and one from course 10B, 16A, 20A, Computer Science 32, or equivalent, with grades of C- or better. Introduction to programming for World Wide Web for students with strong foundation in programming. HTML5 and CSS3 markup languages to design websites; client-side scripting with JavaScript to enable event-driven interactivity, animations, and cookie tracking; server-side scripting with PHP to render HTML pages, store, and retrieve data on server; and introduction to databases through SQLite3. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - IMPORTANT NOTES: - I made a Bruinwalk account simply to write this review for Michael. - I've also have had previous web experience before taking his class, so my judgment of difficulty may be slightly off. Michael is arguably one of the best professors I've had during my time at UCLA. His explanations and style of teaching (actually writing code live in lecture) are engaging and easy to follow. Furthermore, every lecture is incredibly applicable, and almost every single example is close to the exact solution needed in the homework (so if you pay attention the homeworks should come fairly easily). Michael also has a genuine interest in understanding the correct way to do things when programming (ex. using ++x versus x++), and is always open to further discussion after class or during his office hours. I'll admit that there is a lot of content to cover in the class, especially if you are unfamiliar with web applications, but if you give your all in lecture, I believe the course is extraordinarily fair and interesting.
Winter 2022 - IMPORTANT NOTES: - I made a Bruinwalk account simply to write this review for Michael. - I've also have had previous web experience before taking his class, so my judgment of difficulty may be slightly off. Michael is arguably one of the best professors I've had during my time at UCLA. His explanations and style of teaching (actually writing code live in lecture) are engaging and easy to follow. Furthermore, every lecture is incredibly applicable, and almost every single example is close to the exact solution needed in the homework (so if you pay attention the homeworks should come fairly easily). Michael also has a genuine interest in understanding the correct way to do things when programming (ex. using ++x versus x++), and is always open to further discussion after class or during his office hours. I'll admit that there is a lot of content to cover in the class, especially if you are unfamiliar with web applications, but if you give your all in lecture, I believe the course is extraordinarily fair and interesting.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - The content of this class is interesting and useful, but the teaching of this professor needs serious improvement. Despite having some coding experience, my friend and I find it hard to follow along with Burnett's explanations in this class. She spends a disproportionate amount of time explaining concepts that could be understood in 5 minutes, while not explaining the basic fundamental syntax/concepts that we as beginners need to know. I would appreciate it if she can tell us what a thing is and what purposes it serves before jumping straight to examples. I find the slides of the previous instructor, which are also provided, more informative. The instructions for homework can also be clearer as there are a lot of grey areas. Overall, I would say that this class is indeed useful and relatively easy, but the delivery of the content makes learning a little frustrating. I recommend using some other sources to learn HTML and JavaScript.
Fall 2024 - The content of this class is interesting and useful, but the teaching of this professor needs serious improvement. Despite having some coding experience, my friend and I find it hard to follow along with Burnett's explanations in this class. She spends a disproportionate amount of time explaining concepts that could be understood in 5 minutes, while not explaining the basic fundamental syntax/concepts that we as beginners need to know. I would appreciate it if she can tell us what a thing is and what purposes it serves before jumping straight to examples. I find the slides of the previous instructor, which are also provided, more informative. The instructions for homework can also be clearer as there are a lot of grey areas. Overall, I would say that this class is indeed useful and relatively easy, but the delivery of the content makes learning a little frustrating. I recommend using some other sources to learn HTML and JavaScript.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - This class will kick you in the teeth and make you swallow a pint of blood before burying you alive. Michael Lindstrom, who is, in all fairness, a good guy and a smart person, had us cover way too much stuff. If you are considering enrolling in PIC 40A taught by Michael Lindstrom: don't. If you do, I cannot save you. PIC classes are often taught by Miroshnikov. Take classes with him, he is way more realistic with the ammount of work he gives. This class was brutal. I may have been able to get a better grade if I took ONLY this class. We covered HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the essentials of web programming. But we also spent the other half of the class cramming in PHP and MySQL, as well as wasting time on jQuery. Just save yourself, I am warning you now.
Fall 2018 - This class will kick you in the teeth and make you swallow a pint of blood before burying you alive. Michael Lindstrom, who is, in all fairness, a good guy and a smart person, had us cover way too much stuff. If you are considering enrolling in PIC 40A taught by Michael Lindstrom: don't. If you do, I cannot save you. PIC classes are often taught by Miroshnikov. Take classes with him, he is way more realistic with the ammount of work he gives. This class was brutal. I may have been able to get a better grade if I took ONLY this class. We covered HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the essentials of web programming. But we also spent the other half of the class cramming in PHP and MySQL, as well as wasting time on jQuery. Just save yourself, I am warning you now.
Most Helpful Review
This is how a typical class would go...Spend the first 45 minutes trying to figure out why his examples don't work, and then begin the days lecture in the remaining 5 minutes. You can spare yourself his sh**ty lectures and learn everything you need from the w3c tutorials. Not especially hard or anything, but nowhere near as cool as I was hoping it would be.
This is how a typical class would go...Spend the first 45 minutes trying to figure out why his examples don't work, and then begin the days lecture in the remaining 5 minutes. You can spare yourself his sh**ty lectures and learn everything you need from the w3c tutorials. Not especially hard or anything, but nowhere near as cool as I was hoping it would be.
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Most Helpful Review
Disclaimer: subject to change Lecture: Professor Virtanen almost exclusively uses slides which he subsequently posts on the website. Discussion: TA Emmanuel Morales was very helpful and was willing to stay late during office hours to help people. He also would help via email. Some of the discussions are regular review and some are labs which can be very helpful for the homework. Textbook: Programming the World Wide Web, 7th Edition, by Robert W. Sebesta. I never used it. I found that the slides and the W3Schools.com were more than enough. Class format: 6 Homeworks (30%): The homeworks are more time consuming than difficult. Lowest score is dropped. HW1 (basic HTML) HW2 (styling HW1 with CSS) HW3 (making a calculator with JavaScript) HW4 (JS DOM with cookies) HW5 (PHP) HW6 (adding MySQL to HW5) 2, 4, and 6 were the longer assignments. 2 Midterms (15% each): The prof sends out 3 previous midterms for practice for each midterm. Usually 3 or 4 multi-part questions. Final (40%): An extra optional homework assignment (XML DTD) and 1 practice final are given.
Disclaimer: subject to change Lecture: Professor Virtanen almost exclusively uses slides which he subsequently posts on the website. Discussion: TA Emmanuel Morales was very helpful and was willing to stay late during office hours to help people. He also would help via email. Some of the discussions are regular review and some are labs which can be very helpful for the homework. Textbook: Programming the World Wide Web, 7th Edition, by Robert W. Sebesta. I never used it. I found that the slides and the W3Schools.com were more than enough. Class format: 6 Homeworks (30%): The homeworks are more time consuming than difficult. Lowest score is dropped. HW1 (basic HTML) HW2 (styling HW1 with CSS) HW3 (making a calculator with JavaScript) HW4 (JS DOM with cookies) HW5 (PHP) HW6 (adding MySQL to HW5) 2, 4, and 6 were the longer assignments. 2 Midterms (15% each): The prof sends out 3 previous midterms for practice for each midterm. Usually 3 or 4 multi-part questions. Final (40%): An extra optional homework assignment (XML DTD) and 1 practice final are given.
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