Since the quarter I took this class was Smallberg's first time teaching the class online, the logistics of the course were very confusing, but we still learned everything we were supposed to and we were able to do all of the normal projects and homeworks. The midterms he gave us were very easy and only took around 20 minutes each. The final on the other hand was very strange and difficult. It only really covered a couple topics, so I feel like I wasn't tested well on how much I actually learned throughout the quarter, but at least he made it optional because of the protests and riots and such. The workload wasn't really bad at all until we got to Homework 3 which is followed by the notorious Project 3. This project was a pain in the ass, but I'm glad I did it since it gave me a lot of practice building a large program and keeping my code organized as well as teaching me that the best way to tackle a large project is by making goals to complete one small step at a time. I found that he graded the project very nicely, so even if you run out of time (the main thing that stops people from completing it is time, the project is not necessarily difficult, it's just a lot of work) and aren't able to finish some small parts of it, you will only lose a couple points. Smallberg is the most knowledgable professor I've ever had, and he taught the material in a very thorough and clear way that gives you a deep understanding if you're able to stay focused for two hours, which was difficult for most people to do. He's just a great guy all around. I stayed in the zoom meeting for like 15 minutes after the last lecture and he was giving those who stuck around a lot of good career, course planning, and life advice.

Pay F to Project 3.

PROS:
- very detailed lectures
- no need to buy textbooks
- exams were reasonable
- homework was easy
- amazing humor and examples

CONS:
-heavier workload though not unreasonable(Project 3 is not as bad a most people claim. Project 4, however, is a lot in a short amount of time)
- lectures can be dry at times (especially when Prof. Smallberg goes over details)
- it feels like we are constantly behind schedule (compared to Prof. Nachenberg's class)

OVERALL: Amazing professor. Since both Nachenberg's and Smallberg's students take the same exams and do the same projects, the only difference between them is the lectures. I think Smallberg dwells on the details more, while Nachenberg's lectures are more engaging and focused on the big picture. I find that I can focus in Smallberg's class more, but they are both phenomenal professors so pick whichever one works for you better.

Other reviews have covered pretty much everything, but there are a couple of things I'd like to add.

Taking this class in Winter vs Spring makes a big difference. My friends who took it in Winter really struggled with Projects 3 and 4. It was ridiculously time consuming for them. The specs were much longer and there were more errata. In comparison, in Spring, while our projects tested similar concepts and were quite challenging, it was definitely much less work and I'm happy I didn't take it in Winter. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and it convinced me to change my major to CS.

I would recommend using Nachenberg's slides to stay slightly ahead of the lectures and practice a lot for the midterms and final because even if you understand the concepts, a solution might not strike you in that limited time period. While the midterms weren't super time sensitive, the final was definitely a race against time.

Try not to screw up anything if you want an A. I was much below median on my second midterm but I did pretty well on my final so it balanced out. Projects and homework, while time consuming, can help improve your grade if you thoroughly test/check your code. Ideally, try to do better than the median in everything for an A (overall I would estimate an A to be about 87 to 91% and above, A- something lower).

It's a pretty important class for CS majors and non-CS majors interested in basic technology so try to learn as much as possible. Definitely recommend this class.

I really like Prof. Smallberg. He really explains things well in class. The midterms are definitely doable, but the final is a little bit difficult (the final focuses a lot on Big-O). There are 5 homeworks and 4 projects. Proj 1&2 and all HW's are easy to do, but proj 3 and proj 4 really requires a lot of work and self-learning. The only problem with his class is sometimes his pace is too slow comparing to the proj/hw deadlines, so a lot of self-learning would be required as well.

Grading:
30% final, 20% mid1+mid2, 1% proj1, 10% proj 2, 10% proj3, 10% proj 4, 19% HWs.

my grade isn't the greatest but it's okay because I learned a lot. especially coming from stahl, smallberg is amazing at explaining things. but even then i won't feel like you fully "get it" until the projects, where you actually have to work through figuring out how to implement everything you have learned. yeah the projects are hard but like that's a given with cs32. it was definitely a rollercoaster the last three weeks and the projects were definitely an experience; i thought i would be close to finishing like several times through the week but i always end up not being fully done until the day before. this was an intense emotional mentally challenging extremely educational ride

He was a good professor who went in depth with every single topic. As long as you start the projects early and get help from office hours and make good cheat sheets for tests, the class should be easy to get a good grade in. I didn't do any of these and so I did pretty bad.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE NOT CS MAJOR AND YOU DID NOT TAKE CS 31 IN UCLA, EXAMS ARE ONLY MEANT TO CS MAJORS , EXAMS ARE SUPPER HARD , ONLY 1HR FOR MID TERM EXAM, 2 AND HALF HOURS FOR FINAL EXAM, PROJECTS ARE JUST TIME CONSUMING, THIS CLASS HAS TO BE LABELED AS "ONLY FOR CS MAJORS", IF YOU ARE CS MAJOR PARADISE IF YOU ARE NOT HELL!!!

The hardest class I have ever taken at UCLA. I don't have too much more to add that other students haven't said already, I just want to stress the epic curve that I received. I failed every single midterm as well as the final, I did okay on the projects, got an average of 70 across all of them, and probably an average of 90 on the homeworks and I still passed. Thank daddy Block for that because I wasn't about to take this class again. I really like Smallberg, it's just that this class requires A LOT of time (for me anyway).
Go Bruins! You can do it, I considered dropping this class several times but I'm glad I stuck through it.

These projects are not plug and chug. You need to spend time working through everything, and I cannot stress enough how important it is to start early and go to office hours. Smallberg is super smart and helpful enough, but his lectures are not that interesting and it was often hard to complete the projects with the attention to detail that is necessary to not lose significant points on test cases when they are grading.
Advice for projects: test the weird cases (e.x. negative or invalid inputs, etc.)