CS 2110

I took this course online during covid, where Prof Graham, Prof Basit, and Prof Stone alternated who gave the lectures. Prof Graham certainly knows his stuff, but I preferred the other two professors to him. He tends to go into detail on stuff that you don't need to know for the class and can be confusing at times. Might be neat for a more specific, higher-level class, but as someone without a lot of CS experience just trying to get down the basics, it wasn't for me. I enjoyed the class overall, though! I'd 5/5 recommend it with Prof Basit or Prof Stone.

Taking this prerequisite course during the pandemic era allowed me to sample the teaching styles of professors Graham, Basit, and Stone simultaneously, and I must say that Graham's teaching style confounds more than illuminates. He gives sparse sample code, often convolutes simple concepts in lecture, and disappointingly doesn't author a majority of his slides; rather, he nabs them off the internet or borrows from another professor, making his lessons appear forced or off-base. His lectures consist of reading from the slide with cursory explanation, making the comprehension process quite tedious. Is he too preoccupied to write his own lessons? Does he deliberately make easy concepts more obtuse or is there a lack of preparation? He's certainly more than qualified and is quick to help in office hours, but teaching is not his forte. Given the circumstances, the class is overall well-balanced between the three professors alternating on lessons with the addition of fun and excellent homework, quizzes, and labs that reinforce concepts in lecture. (These are crucial exam prep material, by the way!) However, once everything settles and we return to a single-professor setup, I would recommend that you take this class with someone else for a better experience, at least during lecture.