Nachenberg & Smallberg are legends. Just here to boost their ratings.

Fun story: just before the last lecture, I left a message on Slido asking Carey to invite David as a guest host for once. It turned out that Carey did tell David, and we finally got to see both of them (virtually) at the same time. For me, it was probably the best moment of the whole quarter.

In a nutshell, TAKE THIS CLASS. CAREY IS GREAT!

Carey really makes CS32 enjoyable. His teaching style is efficient and encourages engagement, his slides are immensely beneficial, and most importantly, he is just such a nice guy that you would never regret to get to know him.

The workload for this class is totally manageable. Some of the projects might take a little bit more time than others (like project 3 and 4), but all of them are super-well designed (beside a few mistakes in the spec) and are extremely helpful in consolidating the materials covered in class. Both of the midterms are easy (I believe the mean for both of the midterm was somewhere around 90%). The only downside of this class is that since final is held on the weekend of week 10 and project 4 is also due week 10, you probably don't have that much time to study for the final.

Overall, I extremely recommend this class, especially for those who thinks Professor Smallberg's lectures are a little bit too slow. Take this class, and you would not regret it.

Absolutely great professor. Made sure we were engaged, gave away giftcards for participation lol. Projects 3 and 4 take a while but they're not difficult, don't worry. The midterms are straightforward and the final wasn't scary at all. Have fun with this class, you'll end up missing it.

Hands down, best professor I've had at UCLA. Carey genuinely cares about teaching students and he is amazing at it. Godly slides, super clear explanations in class, and super friendly to boot. Projects 3 and 4 are toughies, start them early. Go to office hours, you'll go through problems that will most likely come up on the exams and you'll get to know Carey better!

Sure, Carey is fun. He is an engaging professor and puts a lot of effort into his slides and making class interesting. That doesn't go unnoticed.

But in all honesty - this class sucks. Never have I put such time and effort into a class for such little reward. It's brutal and there is little support. The projects take forever, the tests are extremely difficult, and class time is wasted for jokes and irrelevant stories so we were behind and had to learn a whole topic during our own time.

I think Carey has a bit of an ego. Instead of telling random anecdotes about his life, why don't we learn what will be on the exam?

I have never felt so defeated and stupid than I did in this course. I wish I would have taken it with Eggert (never thought I would say that!).

Overall great class and Carey is awesome. The class is 5 homeworks, 4 projects, 2 midterms and a final.

Homeworks:
Not that long, at most will take you 4 hours. They cover exactly what was covered in class. Not much to say, just make sure to do good on them. Typically 5 days to complete them.

Projects:
Projects 1 and 2 are kind of like longer homeworks. It is easy to do well on them, not too much of a time commitment. Projects 3 and 4 are a different story. Project 3 is 30 to 40 hours for a typically student, and comes with a 40 page spec. Nothing too crazy to implement here, just time consuming for the most part. Project 4 will take about 20 hours. It is conceptually harder than project 3, but you are given a lot of freedom as long as you fit inside of the spec. I recommend starting project 3 and 4 right away, will really help you , i.e homework 5 and project 4 are due the same day so plan accordingly.

Midterms:
Only have an hour for each midterm so come prepared, DO NOT with a lot of notes. You'll waste time flipping through them. Midterm 1 was easier, most people finished early. Midterm 2 was a harder and required a little thinking outside of the box. Most people did not finish midterm 2 early.

Final:
Opted out of it. But it is structured different than midterms (with multiple choice).

If you need to be convinced that Carey is an amazing professor, just look at the number of reviews. 5 pages! That should tell you more than anything that Carey is a professor that not only inspires his students, but teaches to a level where we're committed enough to write a review for him. The class introduces several concepts that always seem fast paced, but I found that working on projects helped to understand those core concepts. He jokes around and tries to make the class as interactive as possible with his slides. When you need help, he's willing to answer questions in-depth during his office hours, no matter the level of difficulty. Definitely a professor you do not want to miss as he only comes around once a year!

Carey is by far the best CS professor at UCLA. I'm a EE so one of those guys that Smallberg likes to make fun of. His lectures are interesting and engaging while also being informative. The material is really not that difficult with his thorough and relevant explanations. His course reader is also off the books good. The workload is about insanse especially our 75 page project 3 spec and the 34 page project 4 that most people didn't finish. We didn't get grades back fronanyhing after project 3 so hard to tell how we did. Overall best prof to take CS32 with because he truly cares and gets to know his students.

I really enjoy how he actively tries to make the class enjoyable. I've heard he's even cooler in person, so if you're thinking of taking this class, just do it!
Edit: Almost forgot to say that you should do your projects early. Don't start project 3 the day before it's due unless you plan on spending your next 20 hours coding.

Pretty tough class. Projects 3 and 4 would save tons of time with good preparation and planning. Be willing to spend 20+ hours on 3 and make major changes halfway through to all of your work. Tests are alright, final is more difficult than midterms. Nachenberg was funny and a nice guy and his slides are comprehensive if you miss lectures. Favorite class I have taken so far.