In this class, you'll learn basic C++ and get an introduction to object-oriented programming. This course is challenging, but Ryu is a great teacher and very patient when answering questions during office hours and lecture. The homework assignments are a big part of the class, so I'd stress starting them as early as possible so that you can get help during discussion and office hours. If you get help, all the homework is doable.

Some pros:
-Ryu explains stuff really well
-Video recordings of lectures are on CCLE, and slides are on the class site
-HW and quizzes are a large part of your grade (15% each) + lowest scores dropped
-Midterm and final are quite similar to the homework and quizzes
-TA's discussion sessions were helpful and gave hints on homework assignments
-Final course grade curve was generous (I really thought I'd get a B at best lol)
-Homework deadlines are extended sometimes (ie. if site goes down)

Cons:
-Attending 8 AM lectures 3x a week is tough (but optional!)
-Midterm and final were also at 8 AM
-Weekly quizzes, which may or may not be graded
-Later assignments are harder and more time-consuming
-The last few weeks were a bit fast-paced (IMO)
-I've heard that other professors are easier

I wish that during midterms and finals we wrote our code on the computer (instead of on paper, by hand) though I acknowledge that this way does force you to have a better understanding of programming. I'm a first-year astrophysics student with prior experience in Python, and though I do not intend to use C++ in the future, the ideas taught here apply to pretty much any language and deepened what I already knew. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot from it. 👍

Honestly, Ryu is one of the best professors I've ever taken at UCLA and definitely the best professor I've had that's associated with the Math department. As a Biochem major with ZERO prior experience in programming, I found Ryu's class to certainly be doable. He's young, very approachable, and a super snazzy dresser! The homework was tough for me but I think most of that was just figuring out how Visual Studio works and getting used to being at my computer so much. The tests are very fair and quizzes can be adequately studied for by looking over the slides (make sure to pay attention to term definitions on slides--often the questions will ask for definitions verbatim to what's on a slide). An A is definitely achievable as the class has a generous curve. The only reason I didn't get an A is because it was not a class required for my major (I was taking it for fun) and so did not afford it very much time. Overall a great class, 10/10 recommend.

Frankly, I really enjoyed this class. I'm a cog-sci major and am going to specialize in programming (but am not a "math wiz" so to speak) and I found Ryu's teaching to be very manageable and fair.
When I was in this class, the lectures were BruinCast since they were 8 AMs and he said that he hated 8 AMs too when he was in college.
The lectures build up on themselves and as long as you keep up with the homework and the slides, you should be fine. However, you MUST do your own work. It's okay to google how to do a homework problem if you are absolutely lost, but Ryu responds within hours on the CCLE discussion board. So if you have a question, he's always there to answer.
The class is graded on a curve, so even though I got lazy with finishing some of the homeworks and not doing as well on the final as I had on the midterm, I got a B+. I also never went to lecture or discussion (discussion is definitely pointless unless you really need the help). I felt that the midterm and final were fair; they tested your critical thinking more than anything else, which is what programming is essentially all about. I tend to prefer that over memorization.
Overall, would take again.

He might be the best professor I ever had in UCLA. His lectures is engaging and he tries to make every point clear by giving several examples, which are definitely useful. I can tell he puts great effort on teaching. His homework becomes harder in week 6 and later but if you figure out how to do that, the exams should be easy for you. This is not a easy class, but as far as you pay attention to his podcasts (to avoid 8 a.m. lecture) and doing your homework by yourself, he will definitely give you a good grade.

Despite receiving an A- in the class, I found Pic 10A to be a very difficult subject, and Professor Ernest Ryu definitely does not go easy on his students. However, he gives extremely comprehensive and organized lectures which are easy to understand, and better yet, he has them bruincasted. Honestly, I never went to my 8am lectures, but I would recommend going just in case the bruincast doesn't work - this happened once or twice during the quarter, and I had no way of making up those lectures. The best part about bruincasted lectures was that they were extremely helpful in completing the weekly homework assignments, which got progressively more and more difficult throughout the quarter; the last one or two homework assignments were seemingly impossible. Your two lowest homework grades will be dropped; DO NOT decide to take the L on the earlier ones.

Ryu's exams are pretty tough, but if you understand the material enough to have completed the homework assignments, you should be fine.

Recommendation: Find an extremely generous computer science major to help you out with the homework assignments. They know Pic10A so well that Ryu's class is an absolute joke for them, while it is incredibly difficult for those of us who have no computing experience.

Professor Ryu has honestly been one of my favorite professors so far at UCLA. He is very clear and concise, using slides in his lecture that are straight to the point. He posts these slides, along with homework assignments, quizzes, and old exams on his website for you to look at to study. And since this class was scheduled at 8am, there was also a Bruin Cast of his lecture posted online every day in case you didn't wish to wake up that early. I only took advantage of this once, as I was afraid I would get backed up in watching Bruin Cast videos. Although this course became increasingly difficult over time, you could always get help from Professor Ryu and the TAs during office hours. I once went to Ryu's office hours and he literally examined my code for ten minutes, helping me to find the obscure error hidden deep within it. I would highly recommend taking this course with Professor Ryu, whether it be to fulfill a major requirement (like I did) or just to see whether or not you like coding in C++. Also forgot to mention that he will drop your lowest homework grade :)

Professor Ryu is really great! He is always organized, clear, and concise. Lectures are Bruin Casted which is super convenient especially because his lectures were at 8am. I went to the first lecture and watched every lecture after that online. He also posts all this lecture slides, quizzes, and previous midterms/finals online. I've never coded before this class, so some sections of the material were definitely challenging. But Professor Ryu always tries his best to explain things, slowing down during more complicated topics. The class itself has one midterm and one final. There are quizzes given during discussion sections that are not graded, but they are helpful in that they show the format of Ryu's tests. He will use very similar questions on tests, even sometimes use the same questions. Ryu definitely cares about his students and their education. He is very responsive to emails if you ever need help and he grades fairly in my opinion. I did poorly on the midterm, 60/100, but I pulled through during the final and ended up with an A in the class because he curved the cut-offs for letter grades down. I highly recommend Ryu.

goat tier prof