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.

Take this another quarter with Moehils. Lectures are awful and required. Homework is really difficult for people with no programming experience.

Not a great prof. Lecture isn't helpful and wouldn't go if it weren't required. TA taught me the material. Would have skipped this class and just read a book if I could have.

Not too hard if you attempt to fully understand all the homeworks. TAs helped during office hours, and tests are extremely fair. Lectures are almost worthless, but section and reading the modules were more helpful. She was very kind and does want to help students though.

I really liked this class, her lectures can be long but she's a nice person and funny so that helps the time go by. The material isn't too demanding, although I had a tiny bit of programming experience beforehand. Go to your sections and you'll have more than enough help.

The class isn't too hard, its just that its the first programming class most students take in college. Her lectures are awful (boring/dry/not helpful), and attendance dwindles early on.

This class wasn't too hard if you've had any previous programming experience. It will take a good amount of work if you're new to programming. Petzold is not a good teacher. You're probably gonna end up learning most of the material on your own. Take it with Moehils when he teaches it if your schedule allows it. But overall, not a bad class.

Terrible teacher. Start attending TA office hours for help with the homework from day 1.

She may be a great engineer, but she is a terrible teacher. Avoid her class like the plague! (However, she is a babe.)