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.
His exams were really reasonable- just make sure you go through all the lectures beforehand. The homework sometimes took a long time ~4-5 hours but they are good practice and it's easy to find help. His lectures were also good- overall a good professor to take 64 with.
Only gripe is you can tell if he thinks your question is stupid and that HW is graded harshly. Matni was really good at getting the content to go into our heads, and the HW helped in really cementing down that knowledge. Did not have to spend that much time on this class, but make sure to triple check your HWs
Matni is a great CS professor. My third class with him and he is still great. He gives great lectures with in depth examples. The class is really straightforward and really well organized. My only gripe is that the homework is really long and hard sometimes. The exams are usually much easier than the HW and he allows an entire cheat sheet.
Matni rocks!! He is an incredible lecturer who is very clear about the material presented. He is very open to questions and is clear with his answers. Exams are moderately tough but definitely doable if you go to lecture and study the homework well. He's super funny during lecture and truly, truly cares about his students.
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.
Really lenient on grading assignments and tests, doesn't curve tests or grade in general but easy to get an A as long as you know lecture material well. Great lecturer, class was always interesting with Matni.
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.
This class was one of the best organized classes I've taken at UCSB thus far. HW and weekly quizzes directly reflected what was taught in lecture, and they were pretty straightforward as long as you went to lecture. Weekly quizzes were pretty easy plus he drops the lowest one. Final was very fair and had very few (if any) curveballs. Great prof!
He is a nice lecturer. But he is very dogmatic and super strict in grading. Too many unnecessary trick questions in exams and quizzes, which contains a lot of things that is not covered or mentioned in lab, lecture or textbooks at all. Meanwhile, he hate curving or grade grabbing. Even if the final is graded wrong, he will not change your grade.
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.
The weekly assignments were on ZyBook and the workload was not too bad. Instead of having a midterm, we had weekly quizzes which were not too difficult as long as you kept up with the ZyBook. Additionally, he was very accessible outside of the class and the TAs were extremely helpful. My only complaint was the final project which was tedious.
Honestly great professor. He was very caring and reachable. Learned a lot for it being an intro class. Lectures were also extremely helpful. Weekly lab assignments were pretty challenging and heavy. Final project was very difficult and was more difficult than an intro class should be. TAs and prof were very helpful during this time though.
I loved this course, it was taught using an online course that was very clear and made learning Python very easy. He essentially repeats what was in the textbook during his lectures. The quizzes are pretty easy and are open note. I would say the last lab and the final were the worst part just because they took very long to complete.
very nice guy!! as someone who has struggled a lot with coding in the past and had no experience in python, I found this class very manageable and not unnecessarily difficult. there is definitely a lot of work but it actually helps a lot