CS 1110

CS 1110 with Aidan San was a fantastic intro to computer science (specifically coding). I had some very minimal experience with coding in the past in C and found the adjustment to Python was negligible. He was very willing to answer questions during class and to go more in depth on a topic if needed. The weekly programming assignments were not too bad after the initial learning curve that outputs had to exactly match the prompt in order to get credit. The quizzes felt redundant and not like an actual measure of knowledge on the topic and nitpicked minor intricacies of the language that in any actual coding environment a coder could just look up the documentation to understand an error. However they were doable with some studying. We were also able to retake our lowest quiz grade. Overall would recommend for everyone to take at some point in college. #tCFF23

If you are new to CS, I would highly recommend you take this course with Aidan. He does a great job of answering questions and is very passionate about CS. One thing I noticed after sitting in on one of the other professor's lectures is that Aidan really tries to incorporate a bunch of examples into his lectures, which is extremely helpful when it comes to the tests. Although he goes a bit fast when it comes to talking, he has been trying to improve throughout the semester and truly wants to improve for his students. Overall, just a really great guy and therefore I felt the need to write this review.

As for the course itself, there are three 50 min lectures a week M/W/F, a weekly programming assignment, and weekly quizzes. Once the semester gets started you will become more familiar with these assignments, but for now, just remember that 2 of your lowest quiz scores will be dropped and your lowest programming assignment will also be dropped at the end of the year. CS is one of those courses that is easy to fall behind in, so I highly recommend you don't skip lectures unless you are a CS whiz.

This class wasn't too much work, and there was always lots of opportunities to get help from the TAs or professors. Aidan was fine as a professor, but I would watch professor Pettit's recordings for the more difficult topics. Pettit definitely explained the concepts better and didn't jump to coding right away. The extra coding examples Aidan included were sometimes helpful, but I found they usually just wasted time. But it was helpful to use when studying.

Aidan is the best ever!! He is so so sweet and you can just tell he absolutely loves CS. If you have the option to take CS with Aidan, take it with him!!!
Now for the actual class, it sucks. The stuff you learn in lecture is so simple, and you will always leave lecture thinking you understand. Then you get the weekly programming assignments, and realize you don't get it because they took the concepts and escalated them so much. The Pa's take a long time so start early. Also the exams are so stupid. The first one is fine, but the second one no matter how much you study you will not do good. They are written exams which test you on all the little tiny things about python. Coding is very much trial and error, and you need to try different ways to problem solve the problem before you get it right. Making the exams written take away all of that, so you would think the exams wouldn't test you on all the weird tiny things about python, but no that is exactly what they are. This semester the class average was like a 50% on the second exam, and if that is the average on your exam especially in an intro CS class there is clearly a problem with the exam, not the students.
#tCFspring2022

Professor San is quick, adaptable, and cares A LOT about his students. He can talk kind of fast, but he will repeat and re-explain if you ask him too. He has mini questions throughout the lectures that test for understanding and he also is great at giving help during office hours. I really enjoy this class and his lectures are never boring.