Professor Pham is such an incredible and caring professor. I took the class in Winter 2021 online, so the circumstances may be different, but he does his best to cover the material thoroughly so that students understand all of the course material. The class is much easier with prior experience in coding (ie. Java, AP Comp Sci, etc.), but it also shouldn't be a problem if you're a brand new coder. Note: I took AP Comp Sci in HS, so I can't speak for everyone else in the class, but I also went to every lecture instead of watching the recordings (I think in the end, only about 20 students ever showed up to the live lectures).
The grade distribution is as follows: 30% Homework, 20% Quizzes, 20% Midterm, 30% Final. The homework was a coding assignment due Sunday at 11:59pm each week (except the first 2 weeks) that consisted of 2-3 coding problems (increasing difficulty over time because of new concepts learned). They were too hard overall, but don't try to start last minute on the weekend (I recommend working on it throughout the week so you have time to ask questions during office hours). There were 3 quizzes administered on CCLE (about 5 multiple choice questions and 1-2 short answer questions). The third quiz was the hardest (as expected), but the first two were pretty easy imo. The midterm was available for 24 hours (because of COVID) and was designed to be a 1-hour exam (although it took me longer, maybe 2-3 hours). The exam had true/false questions, short answer questions, and coding problems, and the difficulty of the exam was around what I had expected (not too hard, but did take a while to complete). And lastly, the final was also available for 24 hours and was designed to be a 3-hour exam, but it took me about 10 hours (but I was also working on another exam that day), and it had the same format as the midterm. It was much harder than the midterm in terms of the coding problems, but it was definitely doable, so be prepared for this. Now, the exams and assessments seemed like a lot, but they really weren't. He drops the 2 lowest homework assignments. And because of COVID and looking at everyone's grades, he decided to give a bunch of extra credit (1% for Gradescope demo and 1% for instructor evaluations), and he also rounded your total score if you were within 1% of the next grading cutoff.
The professor does a bunch of coding demos during the lecture, so make sure to pay attention to those, because (1) they're really helpful in understanding how to apply certain concepts or keywords and (2) he used some of the lecture demos in the final. He listed a textbook in the syllabus, but I never used it throughout the entire quarter because all of the material ever needed for the class was discussed pretty well in the lectures.
I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND taking his class, because his grading is so incredibly nice (a bunch of extra credit + rounding), and he truly wants to help students get a good grade while understanding the material for the class. However, don't try to slack off, especially if you're new at coding, because the difficulty of material increases throughout the quarter. Also, if you ever need help, he is very nice and is willing to help you step-by-step during office hours.

I had already learned the basics of python and used it for 2 years before learning C++ in this class. This class will be much easier for those who are already familiar with a programming language since they only need to learn the syntax and already know fundamental ideas.

Some quick background: I took AP Comp Sci in high school and that was about the extent of my coding experience. With that prior knowledge, the first 2/3 of the class was actually really easy, but the last third of the class was not covered by AP Compsci so it got hard. I can't really say how your experience will be if you don't have coding experience, but from what I've heard it's pretty difficult so buckle up. I wouldn't say Professor Pham's lectures were engaging unfortunately, and by the end of the quarter very few people showed up to lectures. He also doesn't turn his camera on which.....doesn't feel right. The grading scheme could have been improved. A lot. Instead of dropping a quiz, he has this overly complicated system where if you missed a quiz you could make up that score through certain questions on the midterm/final. Now the problem here is that the quizzes are timed and the exams are not, so people who skipped the quizzes have a huge advantage in the class. The time limits of the quizzes are actually pretty brutal, and it was doubly worse for people w/o coding experience. The one redeeming factor of the class is the professor himself. Give Pham a chance. I regret not asking him more questions but every question I did have he explained the answer efficiently. I think besides refusing to drop the quiz, (which I feel he should have since the class avg for the third quiz was around 50%) Pham tried his best to make things easier for us. That being said from what I've heard this class is one of the harder options for PIC 10A, but you'll survive nonetheless.

TLDR: The class itself is so-so, but the professor is great.

I took this class with no previous programming experience, so I really struggled with the material. I would be lost in HW assignments starting after week 3. Believe me, you can grasp the material. It's doable!! I just a lot going on outside of school and I didn't have as much free time to practice and have fun with coding. Despite having a rough time with HW, if you go to office hours, the professor is very willing to help you out with understanding the concepts. He's so lenient with grading and he ended up curving the grade by a bit. I really thought I'd fail the class, but I passed it due to his curving.

I took this course online during COVID with Professor Pham.

The amount of material can be overwhelming, and homework projects (which were actually very interesting) can be hard but you can drop one of them I believe. If you take this class with Pham, you may expect to spend some time digesting the knowledge and doing the homework to do well.

However, the material was generally explained well in lectures, and Pham was extremely helpful and responsive in answering students' questions posted on the CCLE forum. He actually encouraged students to ask questions and was willing to help, so as long as you participate, you will be fine.

The midterm and final were 24 hours. The midterm was a bit tricky, but the final was more straightforward, though I did spend a long time on some questions.

I recommend taking this course with Professor Pham if you do want to learn Java.

Good professor. He always posted the lecture notes online for students to go back and review, and this proved to be really helpful, especially during distance learning. He has a pretty strong accent, but that's not really his fault and honestly it didn't make it difficult to understand the course material. The material itself was pretty challenging but that shouldn't discourage you. The textbook was a bit dry but it was very clear and straight to the point. The TA's were pretty helpful, and it was clear that the professor and the TA's were working together to help students understand the course material. Overall, a fine class.