COMPTNG 16A
Python with Applications I
Description: (Formerly numbered 16.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Requisites: course 10A, Computer Science 31, or equivalent, with grades of C- or better. In-depth introduction to Python programming language for students who have already taken beginning programming course in strongly typed, compiled language (C++, C, or Fortran). Core Python language constructs, applications, text processing, data visualization, interaction with spreadsheets and SQL databases, and creation of graphical user interfaces. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - If you are deciding between professors for PIC16A, Phil should be your choice. He cares so much about his students - both in whether you're grasping concepts and actually learning and in your mental health. His emphasis was not on grades but more on actually learning the material - he drops your 2 lowest homework grades, 4 discussion grades (which you complete with the same group of one to two people through the whole quarter), and 5 quiz grades. So if you're not doing too hot one week, don't stress. I came into the course not too confident in my coding skills (I only took one PIC class before this) but I had all the resources I needed to get through this class. Challenging, but not to the point of insane stress. I really liked the final project we did surrounding data science and machine learning - you complete this project by week 10 and is done with the same group from your discussion. I like that the project was based on the students' interests that were surveyed at the beginning of the quarter. It seemed like a lot when we were first introduced to it but a lot of the work for the project is done in discussion and through homework already. Campuswire was a huge helper for me in the class to ask questions about homework or other general questions. You could receive up to 2% extra credit from posting thoughtful questions and answers on there, and up to 3% through a short essay surrounding equity, justice, and algorithms. Phil was always available and open for questions. He held office hours at normal hours and also later in the evening to accommodate for students in different time zones. If you emailed him he'd reply quite quickly and always obviously took time to respond thoughtfully. He also checked CampusWire frequently for questions to answer that other students couldn't answer. The midterm and final did take much longer for me than the estimated time given, but I feel this is common for all 24hr tests at this point. He even emailed us after the final saying that he has heard this concern and would take that into consideration while grading (what a gem), and had a whole extra part on the final to explain your progress through this class as a way to give him more insight into you when he considers your final grade. If you do take this class with Phil (which you should if you want to learn in a really engaging way), make sure to ask him for his memes.
Fall 2020 - If you are deciding between professors for PIC16A, Phil should be your choice. He cares so much about his students - both in whether you're grasping concepts and actually learning and in your mental health. His emphasis was not on grades but more on actually learning the material - he drops your 2 lowest homework grades, 4 discussion grades (which you complete with the same group of one to two people through the whole quarter), and 5 quiz grades. So if you're not doing too hot one week, don't stress. I came into the course not too confident in my coding skills (I only took one PIC class before this) but I had all the resources I needed to get through this class. Challenging, but not to the point of insane stress. I really liked the final project we did surrounding data science and machine learning - you complete this project by week 10 and is done with the same group from your discussion. I like that the project was based on the students' interests that were surveyed at the beginning of the quarter. It seemed like a lot when we were first introduced to it but a lot of the work for the project is done in discussion and through homework already. Campuswire was a huge helper for me in the class to ask questions about homework or other general questions. You could receive up to 2% extra credit from posting thoughtful questions and answers on there, and up to 3% through a short essay surrounding equity, justice, and algorithms. Phil was always available and open for questions. He held office hours at normal hours and also later in the evening to accommodate for students in different time zones. If you emailed him he'd reply quite quickly and always obviously took time to respond thoughtfully. He also checked CampusWire frequently for questions to answer that other students couldn't answer. The midterm and final did take much longer for me than the estimated time given, but I feel this is common for all 24hr tests at this point. He even emailed us after the final saying that he has heard this concern and would take that into consideration while grading (what a gem), and had a whole extra part on the final to explain your progress through this class as a way to give him more insight into you when he considers your final grade. If you do take this class with Phil (which you should if you want to learn in a really engaging way), make sure to ask him for his memes.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - Professor Haberland is an amazing professor. He makes you do a lot of the work before class with his flipped lecture style, but the material is extremely interesting and useful. He covers a lot of ground (so much that he splits the course into two tracks and you can choose one). If you do both tracks, you learn an unbelievable amount. Additionally, he writes extremely engaging exams that make you think and solve interesting problems. Probably the best PIC professor out there.
Winter 2018 - Professor Haberland is an amazing professor. He makes you do a lot of the work before class with his flipped lecture style, but the material is extremely interesting and useful. He covers a lot of ground (so much that he splits the course into two tracks and you can choose one). If you do both tracks, you learn an unbelievable amount. Additionally, he writes extremely engaging exams that make you think and solve interesting problems. Probably the best PIC professor out there.
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Fall 2019 - Professor Ji isn't the most engaging lecturer but she gives you all the materials you need to do well in this class. The homeworks are very helpful and pretty interesting to do. My only complaint with this class is that there are a lot of different library functions and function parameters to memorize, which can be difficult to recall on the tests, which might ask you to use specific functions in certain libraries. Professor Ji is very good at answering questions and really wants everyone to succeed in the class. I definitely recommend this class.
Fall 2019 - Professor Ji isn't the most engaging lecturer but she gives you all the materials you need to do well in this class. The homeworks are very helpful and pretty interesting to do. My only complaint with this class is that there are a lot of different library functions and function parameters to memorize, which can be difficult to recall on the tests, which might ask you to use specific functions in certain libraries. Professor Ji is very good at answering questions and really wants everyone to succeed in the class. I definitely recommend this class.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - This was one of the most fun classes I've taken in UCLA! Although I've had plenty of prior experience in Python, I still gained a lot from this class, especially in reinforcing concepts that I did not fully grasp previously. As Professor Keating's lecture notes were well-written, I stopped going for lectures after Week 2. Homework and discussion assignments were extremely fun to work on, as they often involved real-world applications of Python. Midterm was really easy with most of us completing it within 20 minutes, so she made the final slightly harder, but it was still manageable. The only downside was the project - my group put in a lot of effort into it, but perhaps we focused too much on the code rather than the explanations, so we were rather harshly deducted 20 marks for insufficient explanations, so do be wary of that. I was searching for data science internships while taking PIC 16A, and it has been extremely helpful in tackling Python interview questions. I cannot stress enough how important the split-apply-combine technique we learnt for Pandas turned out to be. Now that I have secured an internship, looking back in hindsight, this class has played a pivotal role in my success. For anyone looking to enter the field of Data Science, I would highly recommend this class with Professor Keating.
Winter 2024 - This was one of the most fun classes I've taken in UCLA! Although I've had plenty of prior experience in Python, I still gained a lot from this class, especially in reinforcing concepts that I did not fully grasp previously. As Professor Keating's lecture notes were well-written, I stopped going for lectures after Week 2. Homework and discussion assignments were extremely fun to work on, as they often involved real-world applications of Python. Midterm was really easy with most of us completing it within 20 minutes, so she made the final slightly harder, but it was still manageable. The only downside was the project - my group put in a lot of effort into it, but perhaps we focused too much on the code rather than the explanations, so we were rather harshly deducted 20 marks for insufficient explanations, so do be wary of that. I was searching for data science internships while taking PIC 16A, and it has been extremely helpful in tackling Python interview questions. I cannot stress enough how important the split-apply-combine technique we learnt for Pandas turned out to be. Now that I have secured an internship, looking back in hindsight, this class has played a pivotal role in my success. For anyone looking to enter the field of Data Science, I would highly recommend this class with Professor Keating.
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