CS 2110

Literally, don't take this class unless you have to. I took it wanting to get a minor in CS and it completely changed my mind. Going to lectures really does nothing, I was usually left more confused. There were 3 homework assignments assigned that were loosely based on the material of the class. That being said the homeworks were relatively easy as were the quizzes. In order to do well, go over the readings. The text book does a much better job than the professors and then go over the examples done in the slides. Furthermore, the lab section was slightly helpful in the beginning because it actually worked with code, but the only way it helped was by assigning questions to work on in groups. The TAs were kind of helpful in this case. The rest of the class is mostly conceptual based. The android project is also a pain, mostly because it is group work and the only real help comes from looking up solutions online. The android information you would be tested on is mostly conceptual. I will give credit to the professors because they did offer and extra credit assignment that dramatically boosts your grade, they were also very kind, and were always available for office hours and genuinely wanted to help their students.

tl;dr: Apparently, it's possible to place out of this course. Do so if you can--I wish I did.

The Course:
If you know about abstract classes, interfaces, comparison, iterators, generics, and the Collections framework, you know all the Java that will be taught in the course. After that, it moves on to cover the software development process--specifically, a "lite" version of Scrum. If you haven't heard of it before, the most important thing to know is the term "user stories." The semester wraps up with a discussion of (binary search) trees and recursion.

Course Project:
As of when I took the class, the "group project" for the semester consisted of writing a simple game for the Android platform. There's not a lot of instruction in-class on how to do this, but they do cover the basic terminology/organization/etc. for an Android app. StackOverflow is your friend here. It's quite easy to score "more than 100%" on the project by adding extra features. You'll spend ~3 hours outside of class/lab every week with your team for the second half of the semester.

The Professor:
I agree with the other reviewers and recommend taking this course from a different professor (if you don't place out).

Ok guys, Basit is a really nice lady. So many reviews are Basit bashing which I don't think is totally fair. I really think there should be more class bashing and less Basit bashing and here's why:
Many of us are coming from one of the CS 111 courses. We expected this to be a sort of continuation of that--a sort of interactive class where you learn about coding. However, this class surprised us by being a theory driven dip into the world of programming. What this means is that it seemed to lack any sort of structure. It almost felt like they were picking random topics from a box filled with aspects of a programmers' lives and telling us about it. I mean, I kind of get it. They were trying to expose us to the world of software programmers but really there's so much so how do you even structure something like that? They structured it with the first half semester being Java review, then the second half being all these software programmer facts.
What to expect from this class: a lot of slides, a lot of theory, a lot of vocab terms.
What not to expect: people teaching you code, lecturing towards some sort of overarching goal/concept, people trying to get you excited about the world of CS.

The infamous android project: I actually found it the most enjoyable part of the class. It's overseen by the TAs in your lab section. So you and a group teach yourself enough android to make a little ghost hunter game. It's actually pretty cool. People whine and moan about how no one taught them how to do it but if you go into it accepting that they won't teach you Android, you can actually have a pretty good experience. And it's not hard to get over 100 on this project. For reference no one in my group knew ANYTHING about Android going in and the project actually kept me excited about my CS major (whereas the lecture sort of dimmed my resolve a bit).

CS 2110 is not what most students expect. The class focuses on the art of developing software and is not code driven. The powerpoints are where all the information in the class comes from, and Professor Basit typically just reads the slides. Around half the students stopped going to lectures. That being said, Nada is a very nice professor and could explain concepts fairly well in office hours/after class.

Keys to success: Memorize the slides, get your homework programs close to perfect, go to lab, and start the final project early.

Professor Basit is one of the nicest people I've met, but her simply reading the slides doesn't really do much. Make sure you know how the homework programs work, and you'll do fine.

Don't expect to learn much from lecture.
The final project however has the potential to teach you a lot of skills (App development, building to specification, and not least of all team dynamics). Don't underestimate the relevance/importance of this project.
If you don't have any work experience, this project can be a good starting point on resumes and during job interviews.

When I took this class, there was an extra credit opportunity. I did it, spent maybe ~3 hours and got a 5% boost on my final grade. So if it's offered go ahead and do it.

Professor Basit is really nice and easy to approach. This class is really just a lot of memorizing the slides and then learning how to code/do the homework on your own, but there's not a lot of work in my opinion since there were only really three assignments the whole semester and the final project. Not an interesting class, but it's not too bad.

This class is a necessary hurdle to major in CS in that it's a subject requirement, but is horribly boring, and Basit is a terrible lecturer. I took APCS in high school, and there was material I'd been familiar with before with this class that I made no sense to me during her lectures. If you already have a strong background in Java, definitely consider taking a placement exam to place out of this class because it'd be a waste of time for you. The most challenging part of this class was the Android development project at the end, but if you get a good group you'll be fine. Exams are straight from the slides -- I crammed 1-2 days before the exams and ended with an A in the class.

I don't get why everyone is giving this class so much flack. It is incredibly easy and professor Basit is one of the nicest people I have come across here. The class can be boring and sometimes useless but on days when its useless, just get other work done. I ended up getting most of my work for this class and a few others done in this class. The Android project is a pain and will essentially boil down to copying code from the Android website, but its really not bad and the class is really no other work besides that. Its not a great class but is really low stress and you've got the opportunity to get ahead on other things

Yeah this class sucked 80% of the time (Basit is a super boring lecturer, the tests are nit-picky and ask about super little details from the course material, and the Android project absolutely sucks). Having said that, she somehow makes it super possible to get a good grade - almost everyone I know managed to get over 100% on the Android project (she allows a lot of extra credit), and she gave us an extra credit opportunity at the end of the semester. Overall its manageable and necessary for CS, but I probably wouldn't take it unless you're required.