It's a theory class so the material is really abstract. I've taken Ananth before for 178 and he always does take-home tests. It's not like he magically makes the content easy to understand but he is clearly very knowledgable and the class is reasonably fair. The first homework was very harshly graded. Provides covid-era recordings of lecture.

Great class, very fair HWs & tests, and class curve at the end. Lectures were great as well, always made sure everyone understood everything before moving on, and genuinely did care about students. I would take another class from him if he taught one. I always came out of lectures happy with what I learned, idk why he has bad reviews.

Nice guy but imo really difficult lectures, I never felt like they made sense. HW is hard but lots of time given, midterm+final were take home bc he's aware the material is rlly hard, but they're still too hard compared to lectures. Class NEEDED MORE OFFICE HOURS. Only thing I really know is how to make DFAs. Everything else? lol. Way too abstract.

Much of what was covered in lecture didn't even begin to capture how difficult the homework would be. He also encouraged students to just write I don't know and would give more credit for writing I don't know in comparison to an actual attempt.

Lots of people were unhappy with how the class was conducted. He provides clear lectures that drive the material home. However, since this is an upper division class expect to put in work. I don't think most people were prepared for that kind of rigor. His homework was fair and while his exams were tough, they were doable.

Not sure why people think the homework is a lot. The problems are clear and doable in a week. The lectures are very well structured. The midterm was hard but the professor was very generous with the curve. If you don't watch lectures and do practice problems you will fall behind in the class as expected in any upper div class

Lectures were very simple and straightforward to understand the basic concepts, but the assignments are way more difficult. We were told the midterm would be doable if you knew the material but it was crazy hard, took everyone the entire day, and was very different from the homework and lectures.

Professor is great at explaining these difficult topics by first giving it straight in simple terms for intuition then onto the formal definitions. Some problems and topics are hard but the TA and professor are both helpful and accessible. The exam was difficult but doable if you attend all lectures and ask help from TAs or professor if needed.

The lectures all connect extremely well. The lecture material is coherent but the midterm felt more difficult than the homework assignments. The homework assignments are assigned weekly and aren't too hard to complete if you attend TA office hours and discussion sections.

During the entire course you'll be grasping at straws trying to understand how each of his lectures connect to each other. His lectures were focused on specific topics, but they were never clear on why they were important topics. As a result, the tests were really challenging to the point where a 24-hour midterm would take 8-12 hours.