DO NOT take this guy. Literally the worst professor and worst TA somehow in the same class of allll time. This dude literally lost both of my midterms, you have been warned.

I took Virtanen for Math 33B but that wasn't an option on bruinwalk so I thought I'd post here. He was a fantastic professor and I would definitely recommend him. First of all, he is super helpful and patient in office hours, and unlike other professors, he actually answers emails. He once sent me a whole page of calculations for a problem I was having trouble with.
As for his tests, if you understand all the homework and recommended problems you should have no trouble getting a good grade. The questions were fair and there were no curveballs. When he did put one hard question he said that depending how the class did, he might not take off points for missing that question.
Finally, one of my favorite things is that he doesn't curve down, so I think about 40% of my class ended up getting an A. Because his tests were so fair and he was such a good teacher, there was no reason not to do well.
Hope this was helpful even though it's for a different class. Definitely one of the better professors I've had at UCLA, and I'm a senior.

Virtanen is a great professor, and explains concepts clearly and gives plenty of examples to aid in the understanding of C++. His homework assignments are great practice for exams and just getting coding experience in general, and are not harshly graded. He likes The Simpsons a lot, so be prepared to see a lot of examples involving Homer or other characters. The TA sections were also very well run, and students' questions were answered very efficiently there. His past exams were a bit tricky, but when I took the class, they were very straightforward and rather on the easy side. Don't bother getting the book; his lecture slides are more than sufficient to carry you through the class. I would definitely recommend taking PIC 10A with Virtanen.

I really liked this professor, all of his tests were straight forward. This was my first experience with programming but the professor gives you all the resources needed. the midterm were kind of hard, but the professor provides a few practice midterms before every test. The final was really long and the hardest test. The professor is really good at responding to emails, usually the same day.

The best practice for the midterms is just working through all the practice tests over and over.

His slides are extremely helpful for the homework, NO REASON to buy the book.

Virtanen is a great professor. Don't buy the textbook, his slides are more than you will need for this course. His grading policy is extremely lenient because he drops the lowest midterm, if that will help your grade. Homework grading is fair. The tests are grueling, but just study really hard. Protip: If you are using Visual Studio - TURN OFF AUTOFILL! It will sabotage your memory for the exams, where you will be expected to produce code from scratch.

If you want an idea about his syllabus and expectations - just go to his website. http://www.math.ucla.edu/~virtanen/

Virtanen is an awesome teacher to have for your very first programming class. He lays it all out nicely and clearly and makes it easy to pick up. The material is a little difficult if you're not used to thinking in that mindset, but he makes it easy enough. The exams are long (it's hard to finish in time) and kind of stressful but in the end they are a great challenge. Highly recommend this class.

Virtanen is a great professor. He teaches from the slides and is extremely helpful during office hours. The material can be kind of tricky if you have never programmed before, but he helps you. I came in with no coding experience whatsoever and ended up doing well in his class. He even gives you practice tests before the midterms and final. You don't even need the textbook, his slides are enough.

I took PIC10A with professor Virtanen in winter 2015.

It was a great class in general. The C++ programming language opened a new world to me. It was interesting but difficult at the beginning, especially for those who have no previous experience. There were a lot of things to memorize, but once you learn the rules the rest becomes natural.

Professor Virtanen provides useful ppts that include all the information you will need. These powerpoints are fundamental of your study. Make sure to learn all of them before the exams! Even memorizing examples helps a lot. He has a lot of past exams in the testbank and he sends out some of those for practice. Remember to do all of them.

Homeworks, or weekly projects, are really time-consuming. It took me 5-6 hours on average to complete a project individually. TAs gave hints during discussion sections, and lab assistants in the PIC LAB were really willing to help. If you don’t want to rush on Fridays, start the project early, and create a draft of what you are going to do.

Midterms were fair, with more than 1/3 of the class getting above 90%. The final is a harder, but still, there were smart people getting above 90% :) I didn’t do a good job on both midterms but fortunately received A- in the end :)

*** TOOK PIC 40A and PIC10A ***

I took Professor Virtanen for two quarters (both PIC 40A and 10A).

PIC 10A:

I found PIC 10a to be pretty difficult in the beginning. It's similar to learning a new language, requiring time and practice to understand the basic syntax and structure. After the first few projects, the class gets relatively easier because you get used to the basics of C++. In terms of his projects, I would suggest not procrastinating on them because they require time and focus. Project grades depend heavily on the grader (I was lucky to have an easy grader my quarter who gave full credit most of the time). The last few assignments tend to be the hardest.
His exams are very accurate and comprehensive. Every topic covered in class is somehow represented in someway on his tests. His exams are pretty fair, ranging from medium to hard in difficulty. He is also pretty generous when it comes to final grades at the end of the quarter.

PIC 40A:

I personally found PIC 40a to be more difficult than 10A. There is a lot of information covered in a short period of time. While 10a is solely focused on C++, 40a covers HTML, Java, MySQL, PHP, and CSS. I found it difficult to jump between the languages and remembering all the rules and syntax for each language. I also found Pic 40a projects more difficult than 10a projects. A lot of self learning and trial and error is required because he doesn't have much time to go into depth on each language. Some of the projects require connecting two languages together, and it took me awhile to figure out the connection and relation between PHP and Java, for instance, in one of the projects. Exam wise, the level of difficulty and format are the same as PIC 10a - midterms usually have 3-4 long problems, and the final has around 8 long problems. Also, he likes to combine multiple concepts into a single problem.

Overall I would definitely recommend Professor Virtanen for any PIC class. He is very approachable and understanding. Lectures are concise and easy to follow, and he's always available via email or office hours for help. He's pretty passionate about coding as well, and is somewhat humorous.

The professor provides slides in lecture and posts them online later, which is helpful. Mostly, it is difficult to learn during lecture because it goes quickly; a lot of the learning is put upon the TAs (you have to get a good one). Homework is 30% and very manageable if you go to office hours for either the TAs or the professor. The two midterms are each 20% and are also manageable, but very tricky. He provides practice midterms, so definitely use those. The final is worth 30% as well. It's about the same difficulty as the midterms. He also provides practice finals (though not from his own finals). Overall, I had to depend on my TA for learning, and the class is A LOT of work and time and effort.