The best professor I've had in my CS classes so far. Very clear lecturer and is always organized and prepared. Tests and assignments are fair and you will do well as long as you attend class and do the work. Very accessible outside of the classroom for additional help. Only negative is that lectures sometimes have typos, which can cause confusion.
Matni is one of the few CS profs that seems to actually care about his students. His grading is tough and he knows it, but if you are having trouble in his class he will do everything he can to make sure you understand the material, and for that -- he's awesome. His lectures are also mildly entertaining and outside of class he's a chill guy.
Took my 4th class with Matni and this was the worst one. There was just so much homework and it was pretty difficult and long. The exams were extremely detail oriented and very long and required knowing very small details. Matni is still a great lecturer though so lectures were very useful. Class material is relatively simple.
I preferred Professor Matni with CS32. His lectures in CS111 are a bit boring. The homeworks are lengthy. The midterm and final make up 70% of the final grade. Exams are graded strictly. Overall, it just feels like Professor Matni made the course a bit harder than it needed to be.
Took CS16 fall quarter as a CE major, he's the GOAT! Super engaging and helpful lecturer, really explains concepts well. Work diligently on the labs (that really aren't that hard!), because being fuzzy on these basic concepts will hurt you in the future. Definitely attend all the lectures that you can.
great prof! Would 100% recommend taking his class as long as you put in the work
Awesome prof. Definitely would recommend this course. Very engaging lectures that were very helpful for the quizzes/final. Only semi-difficult part were the short 15 minute quizzes, but if you prepare a small amount, you should be fine. He does drop lowest hw, quiz, and lab grade which is a plus. The final is pretty straightforward.
Very engaging lecturer and made the class material easy to digest with jokes and lots of examples/demos. I read the textbook but it was definitely not necessary, as he covered the material well in class. The quizzes were pretty basic, I only significantly studied for the final, which was very reasonable.
The best C.S. teacher for learning the fundamentals. He teaches at a good pace and has helpful code demos. iclicker participation is only 2% of your grade. The difficulty comes from the quizzes. You only get 15 minutes and some questions are hard.
Professor Matni is a wonderful teacher and provides a very well-rounded understanding of the basics of C++ and problem solving! His lectures are useful and interactive, and the provided worksheets are very helpful! He is also really easily accessible, and very understanding! As long as you do your best, listen, and respect his time, you're golden!
Professor Matni is an excellent professor. He drops the lowest quiz score, lab score, and homework grade. His lectures are easy to follow along with and he is very funny and engaging. He clearly wants his students to succeed—his quizzes/final were all really fair and not too difficult. I wish I could have him for all my CS courses.
Professor Matni's lectures are about as good as they get: thorough explanations and practical examples. The labs and homework assignments are simple, but I don't think the homework helped me understand the content as well as the lectures did. Exams were challenging, but within reason.
His lectures are amazing, such a charismatic guy. Felt like homework and labs did not prepare me that well for the final, studying lecture slides and lecture code did though. Overall felt like I digested the contest of CS32 really well because of how good his lectures are. He is sytnax heavy on his tests so be aware of that.
Matni is one of the best CS professors I've ever had at UCSB. His lectures are super informative, very easy to learn from, and his class is very easy to follow and his tests are straightforward from that. He remembered me a full quarter later because I asked dumb questions in lecture and I respect him immensely.
This is my second class with him and Matni is great. His lectures are really helpful and likes to do in depth examples. He also has so many resources such as class notes, helpful sections, and actually great TAs/ULAs. The material is difficult, but he wants to help you. The homework can be long and difficult though. Really fair quizzes and final.
Intelligent and caring professor, understandable lectures, but very fast paced, hard labs and hard final. CS32 was pretty great with him but 111 had a weekly quiz that was hard and I felt the final was too focused on small details, but he allows a cheat sheet. Both are fast paced, but CS32 has easier material so putting in the work got me an A.
Stay completely still when taking quizzes or exams because he likes to assume you are cheating and make the rest of the quarter unpleasant for you.
Best lower div cs professor
I liked him more for CS32. I got bored after week 3 since the topics felt a bit repetitive. He also didn't know how to answer some deeper questions, maybe due to it being in a field that he doesn't have as much expertise in (linear algebra/proofs). I really enjoyed his energy, but sometimes the way he answered questions felt a little condescending.
You either love him or hate him. He is a tough grader, with questions that are fairly doable. If you want to succeed in any of his classes my advice is to finish the HW and Labs early so you can relax as procrastinating on them can lead to a lot of pain and stress. His lectures are fun he has a dry sense of humor which can rub people the wrong way.
Professor Matni gives super clear lectures; he even records supplementary videos as further clarifications. He has a perfect balance between teaching and exercising in class, and is really willing to help you learn stuff. Grading consists of weekly quizzes, weekly assignments - worksheets or coding, some can be super long (13 pages) - and a final.
He is one of the great profs in this department. I honestly can say that he made me love CS again.
The content of this class did exactly what it was supposed to. I walked in with little to no CS experience and walked out feeling fully introduced to CS. Matni's lectures were crystal clear and went over exactly what the homework/labs covered. Final project was a culmination of the quarter's lessons. Matni was kind, caring, and super helpful.
Prof Matni was an extremely good professor! Rly helpful during office hours and weekly homework was never overwhelming (multiple attempts). Super engaging during lecture & went over concepts multiple times. Very beginner-friendly class, no midterm. Only difficult assignment was the final project (expected), but he offered help on broad topics etc.