Smallberg does a great job of explaining the fundamentals of C++. Don't take the class if you don't have any programming experience. I had years of prior experience and it wasn't exactly a walk in the park either. CS 31 with Smallberg isn't a very difficult class, but don't let your guard down! The first midterm is quite easy but the second midterm is more difficult. The final is more difficult than either of the two. Make sure to watch the pre-recorded lectures, Smallberg explains everything he puts on tests and on the projects. Don't make the mistake of skipping the recorded lectures, thinking you know C++ already.

The class is not too bad. Smallberg records his lectures beforehand and uses lecture-time as a forum to ask questions. For me, this format was quite enjoyable, as it means I could watch at my own pace and didn't have to go to lecture. Discussions were occasionally useful but probably not worth the time I spent in them. While the projects in CS31 are quite tedious at times, they should not be too big of a deal for students with prior programming experience. If you are new to CS, Smallberg does a good job of explaining everything you must do in the specs. Overall, it is a somewhat difficult but also enjoyable CS class.

Smallberg is a legend!

The class uses the flipped classroom model where lectures are online. This is nice for flexibility, but ultimately puts a responsibility on you to remain caught up. Final was much harder than both midterms, but very manageable if you did the work throughout the quarter. Smallberg is very detail oriented, almost to a fault, but you learned what you needed to.

Smallberg is an interesting guy. There's a lot of reviews on here that either glorify him or completely bash him, but the truth should be that he's somewhere inbetween. There are some things that he is great at -- particularly, he's a good explainer of concepts and he definitely is one of the more well-versed CS professors.

However, he is not nice or particularly accommodating, and he won't feel bad about it, either. When he sends out project grades, he includes a lovely little segment essentially saying that you will never succeed in life if you don't pay attention to the details. True or not, this is pretty devastating to receive if you get a bad grade on a project you've put 30+ hours into.

The class has 7 projects normally, and a handful of homeworks thrown in. The homeworks are simple and are great study-guides. But the projects are generally feared, especially during fall quarter. If you put in the work and start early (as he loves to repeat countless times), you'll be okay. Also, one bad project grade won't hurt you too much, as opposed to CS32 where there are only 4 projects.

My overall advice would be to DEFINITELY NOT take this class DURING FALL if you are not somewhat experienced in coding, and even if you are, to not take it lightly. If you respect Smallberg and his devilish project specs, you'll come out with a grade that you'll at least accept. I went into the class expecting an A, quickly realized I should be expecting a C, and worked my ass off to receive a B+.

I've heard that winter quarter CS31 is a joke compared to fall quarter, so consider that if you have less experience.

I was nervous going into this class with little background in computer science, I hadn't taken any AP CS classes in high school and had only taken a C++ Codeacademy course the summer before. Smallberg is informative and concise in his lectures and having them prerecorded takes away so much stress. The class is tough but manageable as long as you take his advice, always start early, always develop incrementally. He's often intentionally vague on answers to questions which can be frustrating in the moment but is really beneficial in the long run.

Happy Enrolling,
A Smallberg Fan

Smallberg is an excellent professor and very good at explaining the material. He posts recorded lectures, so the in person class time is just a QnA session (basically a giant office hour). The class is definitely loaded with work, overall 7 projects and a couple homework assignments. The work is manageable if you start early and keep on track with watching the lectures. He definitely gives hard tests. They aren't impossible to score well on, but they are very thorough and involve both tracing and writing code. He does allow a cheat sheet. My only complaint is that he can be snarky when answering questions, so make sure to read the entire specification before asking your question.

He just uses all the videos taken during pandemic. Projects are hard and you lose points for minor mistakes. The videos are helpful to be honest.

The Fall quarter for CS 31 is definitely an honor version, because everyone has some level of prior experience.

Overall, I enjoyed this class. Professor Smallberg is a great teacher and is more than willing to answer questions. I truly learned a lot from this class. The workload is okay, however Project 5 is by far the hardest in the class. Besides that, everything else is fairly manageable assuming you don't procrastinate on projects.

If I could give him 0 stars I would, but that's not possible so I gave him 1.
He is the worst prof ever.
Exams are nothing like the material in the lecture
42% of the grade is on projects ... and unlike other subjects, that's horrible.. because the project are hard esp 3 and 6 which were a day before or after the midterms so he was basically wanted to fail at either the project or the midterm cause you wouldn't be able to do both very well at the same time
he doesn't curve
he traumatized me
I have never hated a person more in my life

Also he seems so bored of the subject .. he has been teaching the same thing for ages
Any question asked is a 'stupid' question to him.. he doesn't even gives lectures he has these recording from covid that he just puts up .. i think he should retire if he doesn't want to teach anymore

There like 4 mcqs and one free-response question in the midterm
And the mcq doesn't have 4 or 5 choices .. no we had like 20-25 choices
And each question is worth so much
So you are gone lose a lot of marks because of a tiny little error you did in one of the steps because the mcqs are worth like 5-12 points depending on the difficulty out of like 35 or 65 (1st and 2nd) so 1 mistake could take a whole letter grade away

RUN AWAY from him
and don't take it with cs majors unless you absolutely love coding or is a cs major