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| John W
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107
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05-08-2009 06:25 PM ET (US)
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Some advice to future students of this course:
-Codelab: Do as much as possible. Personally I finished the entire 12 weeks of Codelab within first 2 weeks of class. This allotted me a solid base understanding of Java that was invaluable for the remainder of the semester.
-Programs: He gives MORE than enough time to complete them. Start them AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. If you get done early, it just means you can slack off for awhile, but if you catch a big problem in your program, you will still have time to correct it.
-Labs: Although you can work together on latter labs, I would suggest doing as much as you can by yourself, even though you only turn in one copy. The labs are highly symmetric with the test labs, so if you have inadequacies anywhere in your coding you will be in trouble.
-Tests: For ****'s sake you can bring in NOTES and the BOOK. SO DO SO! Print off previous semester's tests. Make sure you know the questions of each printed out test very well, however, because slight nuances in question phrasing will trip you up from test-to-test. And for the labs, not only are they simple, but most of the time he has went over the exact style of code in class previous to the test, so you can go DOWNLOAD his previous code and simply edit it to suit your current problem.
-Lab quizzes: Personally, these were the only downfall of this course. Questions with errors, uneven difficulty from student to student, etc. They just detracted from the lab experience. I would have rather that first 10 minutes of lab had been given so that we could have had a firmer grasp on the short programs we had to write.
-Class curve: It's huge, yet people always fail.
Sorry about double post, haha. | | |
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| John W
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106
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05-08-2009 06:12 PM ET (US)
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Deleted by author 05-08-2009 06:15 PM
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| Andrei Vesa
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105
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05-08-2009 09:19 AM ET (US)
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Do the codelab, it can help at times. Look over what you covered that week or the week before to be ready for lab quizzes. START THE PROGRAMS EARLY AND DON'T THINK YOU CAN DO THEM ALL ON THE LAST NIGHT. I learned that one the hard way. Look over old exams a lot for midterms and the final since most of the stuff is on the old exams. Don't be afraid to talk to the professor or the TAs outside of class. I highly recommend going to lectures because even if you know what he is talking about he can really help you understand it more and he give exam hints for almost all the exams.
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| Son Pham
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104
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05-08-2009 09:11 AM ET (US)
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START EARLY! I cant stress this enough...last minute do-er this is not your course..if you procrastinate you will not do well in this class!
Also seek help and make friends with your fellow CS students because they can be a great help to you and you can be a great help to them ! A student explaining to another student are sometime clearer then the professor explanation. Last but not least HAVE FUN! This class can be very fun if and only if you are working hard to succeed !
System.out.print("This class ROCKS!");
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| Arun Simon
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103
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05-08-2009 04:32 AM ET (US)
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His office hours are very helpful and he makes things very clear over there.
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| febin abraham
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102
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05-08-2009 04:30 AM ET (US)
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i would really recommend reading the textbook before hand so that his lectures makes perfect sense to you. its a hard class u really need to spend a lot of time for it.
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| abc
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101
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05-08-2009 04:17 AM ET (US)
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challenging class. but u will learn a lot.
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| Stefan Simic
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100
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05-08-2009 12:34 AM ET (US)
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Upon first entering CS 107 I was severely intimidated, I had no solid foundation of programming and I was two weeks late into the class. To put it simply this class beat me up, each program took me somewhere between 30 to 35 hours, that is including the first one as I had no book yet and only attended one class. I also got destroyed by the tests, placing among the lowest in them. But I will say this after each program was completed I felt such a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that I would honestly do it all over again. Thankfully my hardwork paid off and soley through my completion of all five programs did I pass this class. The labs and quizes are difficult but not essential for an A. As I look back upon it though, I feel as if getting an A in this class was never out of reach. My post analysis of the situation tells me that the best way through this class, is to get an intimate understanding of the concepts, I was merely doing each program with low knowledge and lots of guess work. If one were to truly understand the concepts I do not see the programs taking more than a few hours to be honest. And the tests would have been a breeze. My best advice is to go to lectures, read the book, and actually think about the concept, this is one class where the knowledge is heavily built upon itself, DO NOT FALL BEHIND!!!!!!! This is 100% not a class to which you can cram for. Prof Reed is awesome, and always available for help. Trust me, I am horrible at this stuff, but anyone can succeed in this class if they so wish and believe.
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Dale Reed
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99
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05-07-2009 11:34 PM ET (US)
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Edited by author 05-07-2009 11:35 PM
CS 107 students from Spring 2009,
Please pass on any advice you might have to future students. Just click on the orange "Post a New Message" button and off you go. Anonymous posts are welcome, and you don't even need to register or anything.
- DFR
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| random dude
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98
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12-26-2008 03:51 PM ET (US)
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this class is challenging, but professor Dale reed made it easy by using code lab!!, and try to get involve with the TA, make friends and discuss how do you approach problems, in every program is given!, you can only do it harder if you don't do much! the more you do the easier it gets!!!Good luck, by the way i am proof of the success of this class i got an A!!
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| anonymous 4
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97
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12-11-2008 12:13 PM ET (US)
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cs 107 is NOT supposed to be very difficult but the way Dale Reed teaches it, he makes it EXTREMELY harder than anyone else who tries to teach it. for proof, assuming he hasn't changed anything, he has everyone take in-lab portions of exams that are worth half of test grades. even worse is that those in-lab portions are pass/fail. he is a good teacher and a good man, just his teaching methods are very very very flawed. i can say this because i have taken his cs 102 class in the past, which is computer science equivalent. in my opinion, if you do choose to take 107 with Dale Reed, do two things: one, find a mad programmer so he/she can help you on all 5 programs AND do well on the in-lab portions.
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| Mufasa
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96
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12-11-2008 12:42 AM ET (US)
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This class is not hard, just show up and listen. Try to write the programs yourself, and if not at least try to understand them. Before the in-lab tests look over the programming assignments from previous years and see if you could do them. Before the in class tests study the tests from previous years, and there is always will be some questions about the stuff you did during lecture and lab. Let the force be with you...
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| anonymous
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95
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12-11-2008 12:12 AM ET (US)
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This class is a tough class and like the people saying below me u need to work hard to pass with a decent grade. I never had experience in java or C++. I found out that program 1 and 2 are easy but starting program 3 it will get extremely hard. U need to be ready to take the challange because programs will take at least 20 hours of work yes beleive it. Its a hard class and yes dont ever copy codes from each other the professor is brilliant he can find out and u will pay for it because u will get automatic F.
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| anonymous
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94
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12-10-2008 09:35 PM ET (US)
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First of all, this is a tough class without ever studying Java or C++ in your previous years. For those who have experience, you might have it easier, but not always. Coming from a person who has experience in Java, this class was still tough. There were things that I have never been taught. This class will seem easy at the beginning; the first two programs will be simple. BUT, when it comes to program three, four, and five, IT'S CRUNCH TIME. It's going to get stressful and hard. My advice is, start early so you can find what you are having problems with and then get help. Also, use what you learn in lab to help you solve some of your problems.
Furthermore, work hard and do your homework. Do your reading in your text to help you do better with quizzes. Also, do your code lab online home work. Not only do both of these help with your programs and tests, but they are a big part of your grade especially when you have a border line grade.
As long as you do your work and start ahead of time, you will do fine. Also, try attending lecture everyday, you will find out that the information in class is very helpful for tests and programs.
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| anonymous
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93
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12-10-2008 08:50 PM ET (US)
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Friends CS 107 is not an easy class. You really need to work hard on this course. Programs done in this course are hard and time consuming so start early, don't wait for the last minute. if you do you will pay for it. If you do all your programs and do all the works like codelabs, qizes and lab assignment, and do fine in exams . You will get a good grade in this class.
***Important advice*** while doing programs do not copy codes from others or give your code to others because you will be penalised for it. Study hard you will succeed.
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| Dale Reed
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92
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12-10-2008 07:42 PM ET (US)
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Edited by author 12-12-2008 11:37 AM
Fall '08 CS 107 students,
Please add your advice to future students here. If it is relevent, comment on strategies for doing programs, what you liked/disliked most about the class, etc. Is there anything you did well or should have done differently that you can pass on to the next group of students? Note that anonymous posts are perfectly fine, but please do respect that privilege.
(Note that messages 50-91 below were deleted. These were the messages that served as "Blackboard" for us at the beginning of the semester before our regular Blackboard account was created. The messages before that are advice to students from the 2004 CS107 class.)
- DFR
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