CS 3140

This course has potential, but Professor McBurney’s actions severely impact the learning experience. He frequently cancels class last minute, citing "family issues," showing little regard for students' time. His teaching style is disorganized and dismissive, with outdated homework assignments that often include errors because he reuses them without updating. Despite these issues, late submissions are not accepted for any reason, per his syllabus:

"Late team submissions will not be accepted for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER... No Exceptions for ANY REASON!"

This policy is harsh, especially for CS students balancing other demanding courses. The exams, weighted at 22.5% each, focus on memorization over understanding, while incomplete materials force reliance on vague slides. On Piazza, his responses are often condescending, discouraging students from asking questions. While homework assignments offer learning opportunities, the inflexible policies, lack of preparation, and dismissive attitude make the course unnecessarily stressful. Consider other options if possible.

Honestly really enjoyed this class, but what ruined it for me was Professor Mcburney. I can wholeheartedly say all the rumors about him being an arrogant egomaniac are very true.

Starting off with the homework, there are 6 total programming assignments, but the 6th one is weighted a little bit higher than the rest since you're building the back and front end from scratch. I will say these are very manageable. Just make sure you have a good group. I would also suggest really reading through the homework document, so you don't make any small mistakes or miss any edge cases.

Now for the exams, one midterm and one final, both of which aren't worth a significant amount, 12% and 22& respectively. Mcburney's exams are basically a memorization game, and they really only test your ability to cram and memorize the course pack. He'll ask questions like "what is the one sentance I used to describe this random concept verbatim" or else you get no points. And don't even THINK about submitting regrade requests. I submitted a request with the intent of clarifying my grading. However, Mcburney quickly told me that my requests were “frivolous” so one point was deducted from my exam. Despite there being a genuine basis for my request. Mcburney seems to have such an inflated ego that the mere implication that his rubric could be wrong is met with such unfair punishment. I also tried to contact him personally to resolve the matter, and I was immediately shut down, telling me that a point doesn't impact my grade, so I should get over it.

The way Mcburney conducts himself on Piazza is also baffling; his responses are always either sarcastic or patronizing. Why be a professor if you get annoyed at students for not understanding something you think is obvious? The whole point of being a professor...is well TEACHING.

But hey, I'm just one of many people who have had awful experiences with Mcbruney, so my advice is to wait until Spring to take this class with Nguyen.

This class actually is very useful, but its also awful in many other ways. McBurney is a good lecturer but as the other commentors would put it, he has an attitude to say at the very least. At his worst (according to the reviews here), he's outright sociopathic and lacks basic empathy at times, but I haven't really seen anything of that nature myself outside his attitude on Piazza. The readings for this class are good.... when they exist. There's straight up several parts of the course site that straight up do not exist, meaning the only way to study for them is directly off the slides as lectures aren't recorded (and said slides are of dubious quality as a whole). Is condescending/snarky on piazza for no apparent reason for asking basic questions. Exams are 90% memorizing syntax and 10% actual concepts. Studying for the mid-term is fairly reasonable, but the final is comprehensive and covers such a vast amount of content that its rather difficult to study for it without doing so for several days on end ahead of time (not to mention half the things on the study guide straight up not being on the exam). He has also stated on piazza that if he were able to say what was on the exam, he'd give red herring answers, which just seems outright strange to me to want your students to do worse on it.. Nguyen's class instead weights the homeworks far more heavily and the exams are respectively worth 10% of the grade each, which is far more reasonable than 22.5% for what's essentially a measure of how hard you crammed and memorized syntax instead of a measure of how hard you worked in the class. Homework can be somewhat dicey sometimes depending on your grader and your teammates, but its where most of the good parts of this class lie, and its hard to do bad on them if you have competent teammates. This class isn't bad but take Nguyen's if you want to be graded on your effort in the class instead of how good you are at cramming for exams.

My thoughts on McBurney are conflicting. The actual course is very interesting and provides an incredible foundation into higher-level projects and programming. However, Professor McBurney's attitude often gets in the way of these benefits.

Don't bother asking a question on Piazza. He'll just “direct you to the writeup”, or deliver some other snarky response. He is a big fan of using convoluted language to explain seemingly simple topics.
SDE is a class that I honestly learned more from just by reviewing the lecture slides at my own pace and supplementing it with the textbook. The textbook, written by McBurney, is extremely well-written and does a good job of summing up the necessary content. That's not to say don't go to lecture (because he doesn't record those anyway), but be prepared to do extra work outside of lecture to understand the course content.
START HOMEWORKS EARLY!!!! They are lengthy and dense and you will struggle, but that's the best way of learning and applying the course content. Ultimately, it's a very enjoyable class if you make the most of it.

#tCFF24

The class exams are a lot of memorization, with the midterm making up 12.5% of your grade and the final taking up 22.5% of your grade. The rest of your grade (besides the quizzes which are made to be easy knowledge recaps w/tons of leeway) is made up of the projects. You can lowk do the first two projects alone, but make sure to find good teammates for the other 4 (you can work with the same teammate for a maximum of 4 of the 6 projects). Also, Professor McBurney is a stickler for rules and sticking to the guidelines, so double check the specifications for each project. #TCF24

If I had to describe Professor McBurney's lectures in one word, it would be 'redditor'. McBurney is a walking, talking embodiment of disorganization and eccentricity. His lectures feel more like a meandering stream of consciousness than a structured educational experience. The impact of his toxic attitude is palpable. He fosters an environment where arrogance is mistaken for intelligence.

Half the course content is somewhat useful, covering essentials like design patterns and testing, but the other half is a complete waste of time (JavaFX). It's clear McBurney hasn't stepped foot in the real world of tech; his teachings are detached from industry realities as anyone with industry experience would know. Half the time, I wondered if he was deliberately trying to misguide students without industry experience or if he was just profoundly clueless.

Comparing McBurney to Professor Nguyen, McBurney's grading is definitely less forgiving according to most people I know. But despite some of the grading, the class itself isn't particularly challenging. It's a pretty easy A with some pretty okay assignments making up the majority of your grade.

His attitude is another story. McBurney’s responses towards students' questions was a blend of snark and condescension. It's baffling how someone so full of themselves can offer so little substance. He's the embodiment of the sexist greasy CS stereotype who gets into arguments on Twitter or Reddit, oozing self-importance and indifference towards his students. McBurney seems to really show off the culture issue in Computer Science. According to my female friends, his conduct towards them seems to be much more negative.

With all that being said, I didn't think the course was that bad, McBurney as a professor just put a really bad taste in my mouth. If you take the class, you will learn some useful stuff and probably get an A as well.

#tCFF23

Course was very useful, especially for people like me without a lot of CS experience as it teaches you necessary things like gitHub. The course load is definitely manageable especially when you work with groups, which I found much more enjoyable than expected. My biggest criticism is the exams. I did great on every project, but because I didn't memorize exact syntax for every concept covered I ended up with a C. Just frustrating because I know the material but had other exams to study for, and in real life software devs can just google these things quickly (or their IDE will show them)— knowing the exact syntax is muscle memory that will come with experience.
I thought McBurney of all people would know it’s more important that people understand the concepts than memorize syntax for a week then forget it completely. #tCFF23

this was a very very useful class imo !! definitely take it because itll go over the best way to structure code . not just single programming assignments , but more like a bunch of projects . this gave me a lot of things to talk about in my technical interviews too !! as for the professor , hes funny and passionate about his work , but he can come off as condescending sometimes :( #tCFF23

If you're looking for a professor devoid of basic human empathy, look no further than Professor McBurney.

I had the misfortune of being hospitalized with a severe illness during the semester. From my hospital bed, I reached out to Professor McBurney, foolishly thinking he might show an ounce of understanding. Instead, I was met with cold indifference.

"Sounds like a 'you' problem," he replied to my email requesting an extension. "Life happens. Assignments are still due on time, no exceptions." The lack of sympathy was chilling.

Upon returning to class, visibly weakened from my ordeal, Professor McBurney's only acknowledgement was a snide remark in front of the entire lecture hall. "Nice of you to finally join us," he said with a smirk. "I guess you're not 'too sick' to attend class now, huh?"

The callous behavior didn't end there. When another student experienced a family emergency, Professor McBurney's response was just as heartless. "If you wanted to spend time with your family, you should've thought of that before the semester began."

In conclusion, Professor McBurney is hands down the most cold-hearted, unsympathetic instructor I've ever encountered. It's as if he derives pleasure from other people's suffering. If you're dealing with any hardships or difficulties, steer clear of this professor entirely. Trust me, having to withdraw from the class is better than being subjected to his utter lack of basic compassion and humanity.

Instructor is super enthusiastic and loves teaching this course. However, sometimes it hinders his lectures because he will often go off topic about something else he loves. I often found it difficult to focus during his lectures but that might just be a me thing. The material itself was not hard and he provides his own textbook which contains everything you need to know. The tests were not that difficult and I could usually cram all the material in a day or two. The projects for the class (I think like 6 total) were not very hard so long as you got good group mates (good luck with this, a lot of people do not pull their weight). Overall the material for this class is pretty interesting and applicable to the real world after graduating so definitely a good class to take with McBurney.

This class was overall pretty easy, despite the professor. Just google "CS 3140 UVA" to see the course breakdown, syllabus, and how the grades work, but know that it is (relatively) lenient, with retakeable quizzes, midterms that are predictable and provide lots of resources/study guides, and homework that are a decent amount of work, but are not technically challenging.

The major keys to success for this course are (1) selecting a good group for the homeworks. There are 6 homeworks, but you can only do 4 homeworks with the same people. Since they get progressively more complex, i'd suggest selecting a solid group for the last 4 homeworks, and just do the first two with anyone (or yourself). (2) Stay on top of quizzes. They are easy, but also easy to forget to do - just do them, they give you an okay idea of what to expect for the midterm/final, and will be an easy grade boost. (3) Practice, don't study. Maybe this is just for me, but I found that practicing concepts through coding problems was better, rather than just looking at a study guide and memorizing. And, ultimately, if you are a major contributor to the homeworks, that in itself is very important practice.

I personally didn't enjoy the lectures, but I still went. They weren't particularly helpful for people with some prior coding experience, but if you are shaky on your Java and don't know the topics he's teaching about, I'd highly suggest attending lectures. Although he tends to go on nit-picking rants and long tangents about some unimportant coding opinion, getting over that he does truly mean well, and wants to see you succeed.

For those with experience already, this class should be a snooze-fest, but if you haven't built projects before, this is a great class for ya.

As a non-cs major, I struggled in this class at times, but overall it was manageable. Definitely start the homeworks early and read small details in the instructions. Utilize office hours, but know that ultimately, you need to double check things yourself, as there were several times when the tas told me incorrect and conflicting information. Also, choose your groups for the homeworks wisely and you’ll be fine. Quizzes are basically free points and a good way to review information. Midterm was difficult (but he ended up curving it) and the final wasn’t too bad. People have mixed opinions on Mcburney, and I see both sides. He can come off as snarky online, but in person in office-hours he is actually pretty helpful and nice, so don’t be afraid to go to him for help.

While this class can be difficult at times, McBurney makes the workload manageable and sets clear expectations for the course. He is really funny in lectures but tends to get lost on tangents and live-coding examples to the point where you can't even follow along in the slides if you tried and it gets boring. However, he does record lectures in case you miss something and is very active about answering questions on Piazza (though he might have an attitude in his answer). There are 6 big group homework assignments that make up 60% of your grade (usually have two weeks to work on), so make sure to find a good group asap. You can only work with the same group up to 4 times, so there were 2 homeworks where I had to work with other people besides my normal group. Frankly, I don't think any of the homeworks took the full two weeks to do, but definitely give yourself at least a week to do it/go to office hours. The majority of the TAs for this course are really great and can help significantly with understanding the assignments. Additionally, there is a weekly open-note quiz (5% of total grade) along with 2 midterms and a final (due to an unforseen circumstance our semester only had one midterm). The midterm and final are fair but can be very tricky. Definitely read McBurney's textbook- it goes over everything you learn in class and is helpful for getting those tricky points on the midterm/final. Thankfully, he does curve and I somehow ended up with a higher grade in this class than I'd say I deserved. Overall, McBurney is very knowledgeable about software development and taking this class with him was very doable. #tCFFall23

This course definitely teaches you a ton about real-world coding and is completely application-based. Some people dislike him, but I think McBurney is a fairly good lecturer; he covers all the topics needed to complete the homework in lecture and is thorough in his explanations. I found rewatching his lecture uploads to be helpful at times. There are 6 programming projects, all of which are groupwork, and you have about a week/week and a half to do them. This class is HEAVY on who you choose to be in your groups. Most of the time I worked with acquaintances I knew in the class, which made things easier, but there'll definitely be people who try to get by without writing any meaningful code for your group, so just be careful who you pick (especially for HW6, since it's weighted the heaviest). This semester we only had one midterm, but it's usually 2 and a final. From what I've heard, definitely take this class with McBurney over Rich Nguyen. #tCFF23

Professor McBurney is very enthusiastic about the material and tries to make his lectures as engaging as possible. Comes across as sassy and passive aggressive on Piazza, but in person he's a kind person. He's not great at managing time during lecture, so he sometimes rushes through important parts of the material and drags on with others.

Quizzes are online, open everything, and very low stakes as you get 5 attempts. They're designed to be free points, but on exams he sometimes has questions testing arbitrary syntax that we never went over in class but that was in the assigned readings.

Overall, the work for this class is not so much difficult as it is time consuming. There are 6 homeworks for which you can work in groups of up to 3. Plan accordingly though, as you can only work with the same people 4 times. DO NOT RECRUIT RANDOS OFF PIAZZA. This class teaches very valuable skills and Professor McBurney emphasizes the real-world value of them.

This is the MOST RELEVANT class you can take at UVA pertaining to what people actually do in software engineering after graduating. It includes topics such as git, testing, data parsing, incorporating packages, and general good code/architecture practices. McBurney is a good lecturer and as long as you stay organized and on top of the projects, you will learn a lot. I will also say that this is probably the class that separates the people who have been memorizing syntax as opposed to understanding the logic and the processes of designing programs. If you are the former, you will probably struggle a lot. If you are the latter, this class will be pretty easy, and I personally found the projects to be fun and fresh compared to just regurgitating lecture material.

I really enjoyed this class! Although, I thought it was fairly difficult as it was the first time this class was taught. The material was extremely interesting and engaging, and I have learned so much about software development through the group projects. The group projects consists of up to three people in a group and you are given two weeks to finish the assignment. Although you are only allowed to work with the same people four times (which I believe that they might change). If you are stuck with a group member who did not do any work (as many people did during this semester) and piggyback off of the work of others, then you will be suffering for the next two weeks. The amount of hours of work that you put in this class is solely based on your ability to code and interact with the material, so it does vary!

There are seven group projects that are worth 60% of your grade. The rest of the grades are composed of:

- 5% Quizzes
- 10% Midterm 1
- 10% Midterm 2
- 15% Final

The quizzes are very low-stake, and you have multiple tries to get 8/10. When you get 8/10, the quiz is graded as 100%. There are ten quizzes. Overall, I really enjoyed this course, and given the opportunity to do it again, I would!

#tCFfall22