Took both cs31 and cs32 with Professor Huang. He is the GOAT for both classes.

I took this class after receiving a recommendation from one of my CS major friends. Although I was very intimidated by the fact that this class is taught in C++, Dr. Huang helped eliminate some of my worries. I agree with the fact that he is super kind and knowledgeable in CS as a whole, but what some users failed to mention is that he sometimes has poor communication. Dr. Huang certainly does his best to be accommodating to students, but depending on what else he has going on in his life, he will sometimes take weeks to respond to emails. Although he can take a while to respond, he has always resolved my issues and concerns regarding the course. All in all, I highly recommend Dr. Huang!

*I'm writing this review to counter the one posted on August 23, 2025, for the Summer 2025 COM SCI 32 course, as my experience was very different.

I found that the project specifications were not "extremely vague" but concise and clear. Asking or reading clarifying questions on Piazza was not a problem for me because Professor Huang would respond very quickly (Average response time according to Piazza was only 2 hours). My biggest problem with Piazza was seeing repeat questions from students cluttering the feed, questions that the professor had already answered in older posts.

Regarding the critical post on Piazza, the claim that Professor Huang "never EVER responds to emails" is false. He has replied to all of my emails and regrade requests. Also, I re-checked the syllabus, and the professor has not violated any deadlines.

Professor Huang was extremely accommodating and thoughtful, especially to the significant number of non-engineering and computer science students taking the course this summer. It was therefore disappointing to see the lack of courtesy and sense of entitlement among my peers on Piazza. Let us treat our professors with respect, not only because of their title, but also because of their humanity. I am grateful to Professor Huang for teaching this class.

*Note: this is in regards to CS 32, NOT CS 31
There was no option to rate this professor in terms of the CS 32 course.

Summer 2025 CS32 was an online, asynchronous course with 2 exams, 4 projects, and some checkpoints (homework graded by correctness).

Firstly, the lectures are long and agonizingly dull. The professor does not use his own powerpoint, rather choosing to borrow another professor's and just vaguely reiterate what's on the screen. Many students have opted just to read the slides without listening to the professor.

The lectures themselves are far, far longer than what it would be if they were in done in person or over zoom.

But what's really egregious are the projects. He iterates again and again to read all instructions carefully and that any small errors would take off points. And yet the SPECs (project requirements, expectations, and instructions) are extremely vague, to the point where each project leads to dozens and dozens of follow-up clarifications on Piazza. Fascinatingly, the prof expects us to read each and every one of the questions in Piazza and apply his arbitrary rules before turning the assignment in. He makes no announcement even when multiple people ask the question, and says it was our job to scour all of Piazza instead of actually doing HIS job and clarifying instructions in the specs or in an announcement in the first place.

There was a post on Piazza by students calling out other criticisms, including the "troubling lack of communication with students" (he never EVER responds to emails), "being graded incorrectly by the autograders on checkpoints, despite providing correct or near-identical answers", "fairness and consistency of grading", and not abiding by the syllabus and its deadlines.

IF your only goal with this class is to graduate or to get a grade boost, take it DURING summer, ASYNCHRONOUS, and only if you have some time on your hands.

If your goal includes actually learning the material, applying it later in life, or obtaining a good connection with the professor, don't take it with this guy.

*Disclaimer: this was most likely the first time this professor has taught this course. however it was online, asynchronous, and the material was made easier than CS 32 is supposed to be. also he has had many years of teaching experience, so I'm taking the liberty to be completely transparent, something he has trouble implementing in class.

TLDR: Horrible professor that does not care about your learning experience. Does not do any of the work REQUIRED as a professor and the whole class really hated him, for good reason. Waste of the 1.0 stars that this website forces me to give him.

I wish you luck.