This course is tough but it is very doable if you are willing to put in the work. Professor Smallberg is always willing to help and he always answers questions. I would advise that you go to Professor Smallberg's Q&A sessions because even if you don't have questions of your own, someone else's question may answer your own.

The midterms and finals were pretty tough but I would say that they are fair. As for the projects, projects 1 and 2 were pretty easy. Project 3 is where it gets real. Project 3 was basically implementing a fully-fledged video game. Although I wouldn't say that it was difficult, it was a massive time drain. During these two weeks, I was spending almost every waking hour working on project 3. Project 4 was actually difficult because you really have to think about what you are doing. The one thing that I can say is to not procrastinate. I cannot emphasize how important this is to succeed in the class. Start every project the moment it is assigned (especially project 3 and 4).

Can't agree with this more: petty, petty little man. Uses a form paragraph as a diatribe that reveals both smallmindedness and an apparent lack of knowledge/understanding of how the "real world" operates. Has a deep regard for the inconsequential that borders on reverence. I guarantee he was safety patrol in grade school.

Tough and good class, but is very needed. The final and midterms are pretty tough, so ensure you understand the core concepts. Assignments are ok, some of them are crazy time-consuming.

Poorly organized class. Projects were too long—even the TAs couldn't grade them in time. There is no use to the projects if no grade will come back.

This class is pretty good. If you're deciding between taking this class in winter or spring, definitely do it during the spring. Projects 3 and 4 during the winter are said to be really hard, but for us spring students project 3 was hard but manageable and project 4 was a cakewalk. Exams are difficult but fair, and I'm pretty sure he curves them. My biggest gripe with this class was how goddam long Smallberg took to grade everything. For example he didn't release the grade for project 1, the first assignment, until after the quarter was over LOL. I don't really understand it tbh because even though there's a ton of students, there's also a ton of TAs and most of the grading for the assignments is automated anyway. Other than that though I don't think you'll regret taking this class with Smallberg!

If you’re taking this class it probably means you have to, so good luck. The worst part about it for me was trying to gage what my grade even was because Smallberg does not reveal ANYTHING. Especially in the spring when there’s a mystery curve, it’s basically a game of how well you perform compared to the average CS 32 student. So here were my grades compared to the average:

I did above average on exams, but below average on projects and ended up with a B, so I feel like if you find yourself lining up with the mean scores, you’ll probably end up with a B+. Hopefully this helps someone.

My Score Average
HW 1 79% 93%
HW 2 98% 94%
HW 3 100% 96%
HW 4 82% 94%
HW 5 100% 100%

My Score Average
Project 1 70% 75%
Project 2 84% 94%
Project 3 71% 84%
Project 4 100% 100%

My Score Average
MT 1 68% 65%
MT 2 95% 72%
Final 78% 73%

Basically my biggest piece of advice is to gage how well you’re doing in the class based on the median and mean scores he provides (when he does provide scores).

Hard class, especially if you didn't take Smallberg for CS31. None of the concepts are too difficult to wrap your mind around, but be sure to know every small detail or rule he brings up in his lecture videos because they may show up on tests. Project 3 was soooo much easier in spring than the one for winter, and project 4 was trivial. Overall great, interesting class that improved my problem solving significantly.

Smallberg is a great lecturer. I found his lectures helpful and thorough, and easy to follow. I did terrible on the first midterm, average on the second, and have no idea how I did on the final, and that's my one problem with this class: grading. You get your grades back in a very untimely manner. I understand that there are hundreds of kids, and the projects/hw are tested very thoroughly, but as a student, it's hard to know what to improve if you keep getting scores back really late. Overall, this class is hard. The projects are complex, but I genuinely learned a lot from this class. UPE is helpful for projects and to help you better understand concepts. Office hours are great too, but there's usually a long list of people waiting to be helped, especially when the project due date is close. Don't be afraid to take the class-just start the projects early, ask for help, and remember the exams will always be harder than what you expect.

- Plenty has been said about the caliber and teaching style of Smallberg (or as I call him by his rapper name, Lil' Berg). He is extremely helpful for his students, extraordinarily thorough, and very clear in the project specs and syllabus as for his expectations of your work.
- All of the previous comments about Lil' Berg's projects (their lengths and difficulty) are true! Project 3 is especially long, so make sure to start early. It took me ~30 hours to complete to a decent level, though it certainly wasn't perfect!
- Smallberg is very flexible as to circumstances regarding missing exams. I wasn't able to make the second midterm because of a 5-day geology trip for another class, so I emailed Smallberg and I was completely excused from taking the exam. I didn't take it at all (no make-up), and simply had my first midterm and the final worth more to cover the percentage of the second midterm.
- You didn't hear it from me, but ChatGPT is very good at doing the homeworks. It's not so good at doing the projects, as there are a lot more moving parts and higher-level organization that you need to implement yourself. Menial components or algorithm-based functions are ChatGPT's specialty. Make sure you actually know how the functions work and how to use them, since you won't have ChatGPT on the exams!
- This class is a lot of work, but interesting. You'll learn a ton and become a much better programmer. Good luck!! (make sure that the monkey doesn't escape and that you don't spill coffee on your shirt)

Yes, Projects 3 and 4 will keep you up late for many nights. But I have to say I enjoyed doing them and it was very rewarding seeing the final product.

DO NOT FALL BEHIND! Besides that, you'll have a lot of fun. I miss Smallberg and Nachenberg.