STAT 3250

Taylor is a great professor! He lets students listen to lectures on their own time and makes class time an opportunity to speak with him or TA's about any questions on the assignment. The class makes you get down and dirty, learning the ins and outs of python. Recommend if you're trying to get more comfortable with the program.

Professor Brown actually taught Spring 2024, which is when this review is for. The class is based on your completion of 13 coding assignments. It was a little frustrating because they are graded with an autograder, but students can't see all the tests they fail until the assignment is past due and graded. The course content is easy, and lecture videos are posted for students who actually want to learn the material. I found the videos helpful and informative, but most students used ChatGPT or heavily Stack Overflow to complete assignments and got the same outcomes from the class. Main topics are Python Numpy and Pandas. #tCFS24

Took the class Spring 2024. Prof. Brown is a great guy and is super funny. He really tries to keep the class light. This is a flipped classroom so he releases lecture videos and you do the assignment in class. You definitely do not need to watch those lectures to learn, nor are they required. There were 13 assignments – 1 a week– and no other assignments or exams. You won't do poorly in the class if you just go to class and check answers. People that complained about poor wording on the questions did not go to class and just check their final answers. It was really fun and easy to learn and I highly recommend this class, especially if you have a CS background #tCFS24

This was one of the most frustrating classes I've taken at UVA. Did I feel like I learned a lot about coding in python? Yes. Was the professor extremely unclear on the wording of his questions and did he refuse to elaborate? Also yes. This is a pretty easy class if you have a friend or two to work on the homework with, but expect to lose a couple of points per assignment because of poor wording. The way that the class works is that you get 5% of your grade from attendance(although attendance is pointless otherwise, he doesn't lecture in class or anything, it's basically office hours), and the rest from the weekly assignments. The assignments aren't usually too hard other than the wording issues, but be prepared to spend a couple of hours a week on them.

This is not a difficult course especially if you are well versed in python, but oh is it frustrating. Homeworks are graded ambiguously because Taylor Brown does not even know the answers to the own questions he gives on the homework. Prof uses pre recorded lectures from Holt, and I am assuming he uses the previous professor's hws as before because of how unclear he is on the expectations and wording. He makes us argue for points back on slack and intentionally challenges us in our justification when his own wording is at fault, which can come across as condescending even if that isnt his intention. You will lose points in this class due to reading comprehension of his intentionally ambiguous questions. The homeworks themselves are not that difficult but some do take a few hours to complete, but he does give you from Saturday to Thursday to finish them. The TAs are helpful and it helps to take this class with friends because Prof does allow collaboration on assignments (within the limits of the honor code of course). Overall, this course is kind of an easy B+/A- if you are good with python (for context, I didnt watch a single lecture because the lecture scripts are sufficient) and don't mind that participation, attending class, is 5% of your final grade.

If you know Python and have had little experience with data analysis libraries like pandas and numpy, I'd recommend taking this class. There are weekly coding HWs, which have questions that range from extremely easy to pretty tough. The TA's are a little strict when grading due to needing your code to be efficient (which means no for-loops). And sometimes, the prof didn't even know what the correct answer is as he says there are different ways to interpret the question, which was kind of frustrating. But if you like coding and need a STAT elective, I'd recommend this one. #tCFspring2022