IMPORTANT NOTES:
- I made a Bruinwalk account simply to write this review for Michael.
- I've also have had previous web experience before taking his class, so my judgment of difficulty may be slightly off.

Michael is arguably one of the best professors I've had during my time at UCLA. His explanations and style of teaching (actually writing code live in lecture) are engaging and easy to follow. Furthermore, every lecture is incredibly applicable, and almost every single example is close to the exact solution needed in the homework (so if you pay attention the homeworks should come fairly easily).

Michael also has a genuine interest in understanding the correct way to do things when programming (ex. using ++x versus x++), and is always open to further discussion after class or during his office hours.

I'll admit that there is a lot of content to cover in the class, especially if you are unfamiliar with web applications, but if you give your all in lecture, I believe the course is extraordinarily fair and interesting.

This was probably the best programming class I've taken so far. I was a bit scared to be learning so many languages at once but Michael did a phenomenal job teaching them. I always felt extremely confident going into an assignment. In fact, I had fun doing them. I think my favorite part of the class was that I could see the progress I was making as I completed assignments. Most of the assignments are components that you ultimately compile to create a series of beautiful and interactive web pages that allow users to sign in, play a game, and record their scores. Unlike what I've experienced with some other programming classes, the connections between lecture content and the demands of the assignments were super clear. So if you pay attention in class/watch lectures you should do fine on the assignments. However, the midterm was toughhh. Each question contained some code that presented a concept (like scoping or object inheritance) in a bizarre context and we had to write the correct output. Luckily, there were two grading schemes that shifted the weight between the midterm and final. More luckily, the final was extremely easy. Most of the final exam grade was dependent on the functionality of our final assignment (the series of web pages). A small portion of our final grade was dependent on a short written exam that asked us to write code for potential additions to our project and one unrelated question that asked us to write code to make a simple web page for a specific task (i.e. execute correct output for user's input). Overall, I highly recommend taking this course if you are interested in web design and development. Not only did I learn a lot on this front, but I had a lot of fun doing it and I hope you do as well!

I would say that the class is not as easy as how other reviews described. Many languages to learn in one single quarter and submitting hw/exams becomes harder and more complicated each time (submitting 10 different files at the same time for grading). The class contents were fun to learn and the professor and TA were helpful. However, maybe its because I don't have any web programming experience, I found this class harder than other pic classes. The midterm was mainly conceptual, with a few questions asking you to interpret code and write output (the concepts that were tested were pretty hard), and the average was around like 60%. For the final, we had to answer 2 short questions by writing uploading codes to server, which is very similar to homework. I often feel like it is hard to debug for web pages since you have to toggle between different js and php pages. Overall, it was a useful and fun class, but you have to really put a lot of effort to really understand the material and know how to code and debug fast.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience taking PIC 40A with Andrews! He was always super helpful in clarifying any concepts or debugging code, so I would recommend going to office hours. There were a couple of components to his class:
1. LECTURES: Usually recorded, and the professor types out his code instead of using slides, which I personally preferred. His lectures can be fast-paced due to the nature of this class, since you have to cover HTML/JavaScript/CSS/etc, but he posts all of his snippets online with notes to review later. There is no textbook, only his snippets. Attendance is not graded but definitely go to class if you want to do well on the homework and exam.
2. DISCUSSIONS: Optional. I typically didn't attend them, to be completely honest, but it's helpful if you're having trouble grasping a concept and want to try more examples.
3. HOMEWORK (70%): There were 9 HW assignments total this quarter, with your lowest grade dropped. You usually get about a week (sometimes more, sometimes less) to finish them, but make sure to check Gradescope/Canvas frequently so you don't miss when it's posted. In my experience, they can take from 1.5-5 hours to complete. I learned a lot from these homework assignments, and I liked how the latter ones culminated in a completed Shut The Box game – it was cool seeing the final product. As a tip, always read ALL the directions carefully (especially the grading criteria), read over your code and check for minor mistakes, and validate your HTML before submitting! It may seem like a long process, but I got some points taken off because I was too careless with my code!
4. EXAMS (30%): Due to the online quarter, the midterm exam was cancelled. The final exam consisted of a 3-hour long homework assignment with 4 problems that was open for 24 hours. The level of difficulty was very reasonable, if you followed along in lectures and were familiar with his snippets. It was open notes in the sense that you could use any of the professor/TA/your past code, but not from the internet.

Loved Michael for this class. I found his lectures engaging - he would code rather than go over slides, which I find much more useful in a CS class. Once in a while he'd pull up a slide or two but that was rare. The homeworks weren't too bad. If you payed attention to the lectures and put in some work, all the assignments were challenging, but not to the point of being extremely stressed or feeling stuck (note that I have taken 10A and 16A at this point, but all the languages used in this class were new to me). I was pretty scared about learning 4 new languages in one class, but Michael made it simple and clear, and I found the overall experience of building up to a final project through the homeworks to be rewarding (we made a Shut the Box game).