CS 3501

This course needs a lot of work, but it's understandably less than perfect since it's the first semester Cyber is being offered. Bloomfield is a solid lecturer and the slides are immensely helpful for completing the homework...which can either be ridiculously easy or ridiculously difficult.The first few assignments were written and not technical at all, but things really ramped up with the buffer overflow and cryptocurrency assignment, especially as the assignment descriptions tend to be occasionally disorganized or leave you stranded. Office hours were sparse and, although helpful, definitely insufficient for the rigor of the assignments (in terms of quantity). You also don't get provided with enough ways to test your code either, so there's no telling whether your code will actually pass their requirements unless you do an extensive amount of testing yourself. This usually isn't possible given how LONG the assignments take, so sometimes it feels like you're barely scraping by. The RSA assignment really screwed everyone over, since passing the extremely basic "test case" offered in the assignment was definitely not enough to ensure you would pass their tests. Grades are also updated pretty late (short staffed on TAs, probably?) so I have no idea what my standing in the course is right now. On the bright side, exams are fair and reflective of lecture material. I learned a lot in this class, but I won't lie when I say that this class could be an absolute pain at times, when I didn't have the time to grapple with the material and unclear instructions on my own. Definitely don't take this class if you have an intense schedule, but if you're interested in the material and have time to dedicate, you will learn a lot. I expect this course will only continue to get better as it gets better fleshed out.

Pros: The lectures were good, and the homeworks were (for the most part, with the sole exception of buffer overflow) interesting when they worked. Cons: Course organization is poor (then again, first time it is being taught, might improve later), homeworks are usually released one-two days later than expected. Grading takes a ludicrously long time, with submitted regrades for the 1ST MIDTERM still not handled, despite it basically being the end of the semester! Additionally, homeworks had inaccuracies in them which made completing them more difficult than necessary (like the cryptocurrency referencing provided code that was never actually provided to us...).

I loved this class! It was interesting and practical, albeit hard. Bloomfield always puts so much time and effort into his courses, and it is evident by the quality of the lectures and quality of his slides. Although I do not wish to pursue a career in cybersecurity, I am grateful to have a solid understanding of the area. I'd recommend taking this course as an elective if you are looking for a course that requires effort but also pushes you to learn a lot.