I would take any other professor than Cai. Although the homework load was light, if you come into this class with no coding experience (as I did) you will most likely struggle. I felt completely unprepared for the midterm and did pretty badly. The midterm average was in the 60s if that gives you any idea as to how the class was doing. The professor was extremely unhelpful when I visited his office during hours. He basically told me I would just have to understand the material better to do better on the final. I decided to persevere through the class, however, I got covid week 8 and he did not accept any accommodations for covid so I had to drop the class. Would not take his class again.

Cai is a good professor, and knows the material well. His slides were informative, and I feel like I learned a lot from this class. That said, it was not an easy class. Our first midterm had an average of a 68% which was then curved up to a 75%. Aside from the difficulty of tests, Cai also had a thick accent, and I found him very difficult to understand. My TA Willaim Garland was the goat, and taught us everything. Overall, I'd be hesitant to take another PIC course with Cai, but would probably do it if need be. If you can get someone else, do it. If not, I at least feel like I learned a lot.

His midterms and finals are strange: not testing programming skills but totally about math.

Prof Cai kind of curves the grading scale so more people get As. Midterms and finals are okay, as long as you understand the concepts on the practice exams he gives you'd be fine.
Hanqin Cai bu gei wo zuo ye fen. but in the end ta gei wo le, suo yi wo jiu bu zai zhe li xie English le.

I came into the class with absolutely zero knowledge in coding but I was still able to get an A. The biggest reason would most likely be because Cai is extremely fair with his exams. He has explicitly said that he only tests on what he covers in lectures, so attending lectures is extremely helpful.

Though he does have an accent, Cai has an exceptional understanding of the material and he does his best to impart his knowledge. I know that teaching coding is hard, but Cai does a pretty good job.

My only complaint is that he is not that friendly, though I did wear him down by the end of the quarter. He sometimes judges you when you ask what he probably thinks is a dumb question, but he does his best to answer.

I hated coding in the beginning, and I still do now but at least less.