Students said this course provides a good introduction to programming. They enjoyed the hands-on assignments and liked the satisfaction of getting to use their skills right away. The homework was very difficult, and the difficulty was inconsistent from week to week. Some students also said that the lectures were dry and that the TAs didn’t have enough time for everyone’s questions. They suggested having shorter lectures and more lab-type projects for hands-on practice. Overall, students said this is a good introductory course meant for beginners. It can be quite chal enging, so students should make sure to keep up with the work.

Students lauded the usefulness of the homework assignments in this course that they believed gave them an effective introduction to programming. They believed that the weakest point of the course were the lectures which they thought could be more engaging and interactive. Students also thought that the workload of assignments was weighted too heavily towards the end of the course, and that the course could have benefitted by more evenly distributing the difficulty of assignments over the duration of the class. Most students felt prospective participants should know that while the course was manageable for those without any programming experience, some previous knowledge could be helpful.

The best aspects of this course included the fun and chal enging homework assignments, the comprehensive introduction to coding in Java, and the instructor’s means of presenting the material in an interesting way. A few students felt the homework assignments were, at times, difficult to decipher. One student felt that the instructor spent too much time coding in class, and at too rapid a pace, rather than explaining computer science concepts. Suggestions included incorporating more demonstrations and in-class exercises, as well as permitting student col aboration. Prospective students should keep up with the assignments; also, background knowledge in coding is beneficial but not necessary.

This course was a great introduction to many programming concepts and the homework supplemented the information being taught. The hands-on learning was easier to grasp than lecture, and the TAs opened up a tremendous part of their schedules for office hours. The weekly assignments might’ve been helpful, but they were also daunting and some students spent six hours or more completing them. In addition, tests and homework didn’t correlate well and at times lectures were boring and too fast paced. Suggestions for improvement include: a more interactive class, consistent amounts of work, and meeting three times a week for 50 minutes. Prospective students should be able to dedicate a lot of their time to this course.

The best aspects of the class included the interesting and useful material, the hands-on learning, and the multiple resources made available to help students learn (including Piazza and the accessible teachers and TA’s). Some students felt that the homework facilitated effective learning while others held that the homework was consuming and more difficult than the material covered in class. Suggestions for improvement included working more practice problems in class, especial y for the second semester. Prospective students should be prepared for a heavy weekly time commitment and prepared to use all of the resources available to them. Students will leave the class with a solid foundation in Java.