General philosophy of programming and problem-solving. Students will be introduced to the programming language MATLAB. Specific areas of study will include algorithms, basic decision structures, arrays, matrices, and graphing.
3
UnitsLetter
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitEngineering
CollegePetzold was a very sweet lady but not a great teacher. There were many times where she seemed lost in the middle of her lectures. Fortunately the class itself is not too difficult. The readings and TAs are much more helpful than lecture.
Professor Petzold is super sweet, but if you don't have any coding background, this isn't a good introduction to programming class. No need to go to any lecture, most of the time professor doesn't know what she is doing and ends up ending class 30 minutes in. Pay attention in discussion and seek help during TA office hours.
Prof Petzold is so sweet but unfortunately is a terrible lecturer. It feels like she's learning the material with us, will often get certain things wrong, and seems like she doesn't understand matlab herself. TA's and office hours are the only way to pass the class. HW is extremely challenging if you only go off lectures.
If you want to do great in this class just go to your TA's section and their office hours. Petzold is nice and tries to make the class engaging but ultimately she is slow in teaching the material that you learn it yourself and she's weeks behind. Work looks hard at first but you can ultimately get it done on time. Class itself is not hard.
Lectures weren't super helpful towards specific homework problems, but they at least gave you an idea of the concepts that would be covered. The assignments are pretty engaging. Go to section and go to office hours for the homework and projects, the TAs are super helpful.
This course is really dependent on your TA's, (especially for difficulty of the tests). Section was a lot more helpful than lecture, and the online modules are sufficient to teach most of the material on your own. Petzold was always available to clarify and answer questions. Destroyed by the final, as someone who came in w no coding experience.