I loved taking PIC 10A with Michael and would take it again with him if I had the chance. I had no programming experience before this class other than a little bit of self-taught MATLAB, but I managed to pull through in the end with an A+ because Michael was that good at teaching us how to program with C++.
The homework assignments were fair and built directly off of the material from lectures. There were 7 in total. I would say each assignment took somewhere between 1 and 12 hours, with the final assignment taking the longest. Homework comprised 80% of the final grade, while the midterm and final accounted for for 5% and 15%, respectively.
Michael was also extremely quick to respond to my emails whenever I had a question, which I appreciated, and was overall very concerned with student learning since he stopped at certain moments during the lectures to allow students to ask questions. Although his sense of humor didn’t really click with me, he often *tried* to be funny during lecture and even had a few curse-word gaffs because he felt so comfortable talking with us.

Professor Perlmutter is amazing. I am very grateful to have taken my first programming class with him. Although the lecture content itself was fairly clear and straightforward, I definitely struggled on some of the homework assignments. In my experience, sometimes the connection between the course content and the homework tasks was evident but not very clear. Because of this, I usually had to do extra research to solve some of the problems. It seemed like the only students who didn't have trouble with the problems had prior coding experience or they attended office hours. In the beginning, Perlmutter would add hints to the assignments and they were super helpful in terms of making the connection between lecture and homework more clear. However, he kinda stopped doing this once the problems got harder. Honestly, I didn't mind doing extra research since it was beneficial in the long run, but I imagine that some people taking this course may not have the time to so. If you're a beginner like me, this is definitely something to consider if you're taking on a heavy course load or have other time-consuming responsibilities.
Good luck!

Michael Perlmutter is a king. He is always available through email, replies quickly, answers questions effectively, and is generally hilarious. The homework is appropriately difficult but if you start early, it shouldn't be a problem to get an A on them. Each homework is worth 10% so if you do all 8, you could get away with not taking the midterm and final. But, I recommend doing them because they are so similar to the homework and each are worth 10%.

Perlmutter's a great prof, can't recommend him enough. The homeworks take some time, but they were always solvable if you understand the code he goes over in lecture (which he posts to CCLE). Though you have to double check that your code works and that you read the problem correctly, as homework is 80% of your grade.

If you have any background in coding this class won't be difficult, and if you don't, you can still get an A if you put in the work (as you have access to notes for all homeworks and tests). He responds to emails quickly if you have a simple question, or you can go to office hours if it's more complicated.

It was clear that this was his first quarter doing the class, as he often modified the homework assignments midway through the week once he noticed that they had small typos or weren't specific enough. Led to me missing a few points once after I used a command we weren't allowed to use, but the homework PDF wasn't modified to say that until after I submitted it. Though this shouldn't be a problem in the future when he does the class again

Professor Perlmutter is an AMAZING professor! He is funny and his lectures are extremely engaging. He gets students engage as he teaches us coding. He gives us interesting examples like 867-5309 Jenny. His coding homework definitely makes you think, but once you get it the homework gets really easy. Exams are not worth a lot due to the pandemic, so the grade is weight towards the homework. Definitely would take again!

Professor Perlmutter approached this COVID 19 situation in a very good manner. Although he was an excellent professor, I personally don't think this class was made for beginners. I had some prior coding experience in high school and what I learned then was relatively comparable. Still, I struggled a bit with the homework and got frustrated at times, which is the nature of coding. The homeworks are worth 80% of your final grade and are the most time-consuming portion of the class. His midterm and finals were structured differently and were stress-free, and concepts were from lectures. I do think Perlmutter is an excellent professor though, there probably is not going to be a better choice than him, truly think he cares about his students and wants the give the best grades possible. Would recommend.

Programming is usually not my thing. I have learned java and intro to R. But they were very challenging to me and I struggled a lot. Spent hours of time to complete assignments that took others a few minutes. However, Professor Perlmutter made this class truly engaging and really motivates me to learn more. I really love his teaching style, the organization of this class and funny examples. I had Talon as TA. His sections was very fun and interactive. He comes up with funny examples. He really cares for his students. His sections are super helpful!

I definitely recommend Professor Perlmutter for this class. I came into this class with almost no experience in programming, but thanks to Professor Perlmutter I didn't struggle very much at all. He's really great at explaining the more difficult concepts and making them intuitive. Lecture was also pretty engaging and it felt more natural to participate in class compared to other Zoom lectures.

Homework makes up 80% of your grade. The midterm and final are worth 5% and 15% and you are given multiple days to work on them. Both lecture and discussion are recorded. Lecture attendance is mandatory if you are in the continental US, but discussion is optional.