Carey is an amazing lecturer! Entering this class I was a bit worried because I found CS31 in the fall to be challenging for me since I started the class with a weak foundation. Personally I found Carey's teaching style to be much more engaging making the difficult concepts less painful to learn. Despite not doing as well in CS31, I managed to end an A in the class by doing the following. I highly recommend buying the course reader book that you can annotate/highlight as he lectures, and that you can refer back to when working on the projects/homeworks. Start the projects early!! By doing so, you give yourself enough time to review the concepts you may be stuck on, and still finish on time. Personally, I found the workload to be manageable up until week 6, when we were assigned project 3. Although project 3 was tedious, it was not too challenging, and was very rewarding in the end. Project 4 was much more difficult, since some parts required us to implement some algorithms we had to learn on our own. Don't worry, the averages on this last project tend to be lower. In terms of preparing for the exams, doing practice problems from "Data Structures Practice Problems for C++ Beginners" as you learn the material helps a ton. Also, go to office hours!! You do tons of practice problems that are often very similar to the exam questions. I recommend taking an easy GE, or some not so demanding courses with this class because it does take up a lot of time. Other than that, start early and don't skip lectures.

Carey is simply the goat.

Carey is a UCLA legend, and rightfully so. He just has a way of being so fun-loving and engaging, yet informative and intellectual. Be aware, though, that CS32 does go pretty slowly at first, but it really starts to pick up steam towards the latter part of the course, especially . For us, the final was optional (because of COVID), but before the final became optional I was starting to get really pressed for time with Project 4 and finals for my other classes as well, so do not underestimate it at the later parts of the course. The midterms in my opinion were pretty easy, especially since Carey's office hours were super helpful (he gives examples that are very similar to the problems on the exam). For the projects, our Project 3 wasn't hard, it just took forever (the median score was a 98). Project 4 was definitely more challenging but it also didn't have as many requirements as Project 3 (make sure you read the spec carefully for Project 4 and clarify if there's anything you're not 100% certain about, such as which function to implement a certain feature). I will really miss this class, which was always a nice breath of fresh air compared to the monotony of many other courses.

Carey is a great professor! If you have to take CS32, definitely take it with Nachenberg. His lectures are very engaging, not to mention his slides are very useful. Projects 3 and 4 take up a lot of time, so make sure to start early. There were a few tricky questions on the midterms, but the rest were doable.

Very engaging class. Projects can be difficult, but as long as you manage your time and take advantage of (super awesome) office hours you will be fine. Things can get challenging around midterms and finals, especially since some of the larger projects have due dates very close to exams.

One of the most engaging and passionate professors ever! His PPT slides are very comprehensive and detailed. His lectures are extremely engaging and he tries his best to spice up even the boring topics. He brings candy to pass out to students, has "mystery prizes" for students who correctly answer questions, wears a CS shirt related to the topic he's lecturing about, uses an air cannon to wake up sleeping students, and promises an ice cream party at the end of the year if the class beats Smallberg's class on the midterms. One day he brought a pan and cooked bacon and waffles for some students.

Could not more highly recommend taking this class with Nachenberg. In his office hours, he goes over practice problems and addresses common misconceptions/errors, but be warned that office hours are usually packed, so come early to get a seat. He also sometimes offers eating lunch with him at Ackerman after class; if you don't mind not using a swipe, it's a good chance to get to know him and for him to get to know you, but sometimes there's 20+ people. The midterms are overall doable, but there are usually some tricky problems which you can lose lots of points on. Make sure you thoroughly understand his slide material and attend his office hours to do well. Start early on projects 3 and 4 so you don't run out of time to finish them. Overall, great but challenging class. Definitely use your first pass on this class.

CS 32 is quite a challenging class, and the workload can be overwhelming at times, since the projects you are assigned are often pretty difficult and large in scale (especially Projects 3 and 4!) However, Prof. Nachenberg makes the class seem like it's not the difficult weeder class it is by making the lectures really fun and engaging, and by offering help whenever possible. Be sure to go to every single lecture if you can, since you'll always get something out of them - whether it be learning to visualize some data structure or hearing one of his ridiculous stories from working at Symantec. His slides were a huge help when studying for the midterms and working on projects, and they will surely be useful as a reference guide even years later. Definitely take advantage of his office hours or just opportunities to meet with him outside the lecture hall, because you'll probably enjoy the class more if you get to know him better.

Carey is probably the nicest teacher/professor I know. He befriends his students because he likes to and is always offering up his time to answer any questions and help in any way.

The class honestly is a time commitment, as when Project 3 and 4 come around, they will take many, many hours. We were given a week and two days to finish Project 3 and a week and four days to finish Project 4, and I probably spent 30 to 40 hours on each project. The specs are long! However, completing the projects thoroughly is rewarding, and at the end of the quarter, you'll see how much you've learned and accomplished and you'll feel great :)

Go to lecture/understand the slides Carey uses to teach and you'll do fine on the exams. Also go to lecture because they are very entertaining and full of surprises! You don't want to miss lectures by a professor who doesn't want to get paid to teach!

Here's to computer science! :)

Nachenberg is my favorite professor by far! He's incredibly funny, charismatic, and explains concepts with great analogies that help you grasp the material very thoroughly. If you don't attend one of his lectures, you're really really missing out on the best CS32 experience. His slides are always posted online, but you can purchase his book at a great price (and bring it to exams since it's open note). He also dedicates his time to teach us finance basics, which just goes to show how much he cares about his students. All around amazing human, very inspirational and actively engages with students in lunches and office hours!

Why can't UCLA hire him as full-time faculty???