Review posted on Tue 15 Jun 2010
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 131

I took CS 111 and 131 with Eggert and it was the best use of my time. Eggert is very knowledgeable, a great lecturer, has a lot of concern for his students' learning, and his assignments and tests are fair, though not necessarily easy. Thanks, Professor Eggert!

Review posted on Thu 10 Jun 2010
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 111

The other evaluation is also correct. He is the best professor ever. I divided my review into several sections.

Professor:

His teach is entertaining and informative. He offers real world example and situation (none from the book, you should note them down). The essential information is basically from the book. However, he delivers it well. After 2 hours of class, you know more than you knew before. He is always available in his OH. He holds high work ethnicity, such that if there is a phone call, he tells the other side to call back afterward. "Some professor" don't even do that. (I won't name names here).

Class:

I can't say CS 111 is easy, because it is not. It is a lot of work and it is even more work now. I heard that CS 111 will be count 5 units from FALL 2010 and the class will be much harder. For this quarter, you may not need to know x86. MIPS is sufficient to understand assembly example. The only assembly instruction you learn from this class is INT and how to do asm inline in C code. I don't even go to discussion at all, partially, TA is sux at explaining and some TA doesn't even reply your email within 3 days. The only one time I went is for to make oral presentation. That is right. There is a required oral presentation.

Book and additional readings:

Book is not very well written for some chapter, but it does its job. However, it is not supplement for skipping class. Don't try to skip class by reading book, you will be missing a lot. There is no official additional reading as far as I can tell you. But if you want to pass this class, you will need to know how to program a device driver for linux kernel (There is a book for that). Also, the exam is open book and open note. I advise you to print out everything you read to do the project such as kernel functions such as chdir, open, fctnl, read, ..., and other materials. You will not do well on midterm and final if you don't print out EVERYTHING you read. If you read from a book, just print the chapter you read. You don't need to print out the entire book. Scribe note, I found that the best note is the one that you took and not some other people. If you intend to print out scribe note to replace your lecture notes. Then you are doing 1 thing wrong here; that is to trust the people who write the scribe note.

I think I say enough for anyone who take Eggert could pass his class. He is not hard, he is VERY creative in his test, but if you prepare well, you won't strip up on anything.

Review posted on Wed 23 Dec 2009
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 111

First of all, the review from 8/23/2009 is spot on. Since Eggert is one of the best teachers I have had, however, I will do him justice by giving a thorough review even if partially redundant.

Lectures: Very thorough, clear, well structured and entertaining. Eggert is good at combining practical topics with real-world examples and stories to keep the students interested. In CS111, he focuses on the standard UNIX functions (i.e. open, chmod, etc), and talks about the important design considerations while essentially implementing simplified versions of these. He does the same for various kernel tasks. The advantage is that you gain a real understanding of the low-level by learning through actual code examples and designer logic. This is unlike CS33, where Rohr presented low-level concepts without giving a clear picture of how they do what they are supposed to do and how they are relevant to everything else.

The only thing I did not like about Eggert's lectures is that he often went through topics too quickly. I found several cases where his examples went completely over my head until I spoke to others for an hour or two. He provides notes from past quarters, which are helpful, but those notes are not always that good. Operating Systems is also pretty low-level, so google does not provide great explanations of all of the minor topics. Eggert also goes through some assembly code, which was very scary but turned out not to be important for the class or exams. For the assembly code, just understand what it is doing at a high-level without worrying about each instruction.

Homework: His projects are tough but also very practical. For instance, implementing a filesystem or writing a small operating system from scratch. They are hard but doable if you start early and get sufficient help. Further, Eggert comments the exercises to make them more approachable by knowing what to do where. I often had trouble figuring out what we were supposed to do, but then once I got it, the implementation was not too bad. Therefore I would recommend starting early and getting help as needed. Working with friends is also helpful.

Also keep in mind that there is a constant flow of work -- 6 projects/minilabs, scribe notes, a brief research paper, and a design problem report, presentation and code implementation. Therefore stay on top of things, and don't slack off! He does, however, give extensions on the some of the projects so it is not too bad if you are on top of things. I would also recommend doing optional work early. I made the mistake of saving my Scribe notes, research paper and design problem to the last week, which forced me to do them while working on Lab 4 and studying for exams. That week was hell, and made me wish I did Scribe notes within the first 2 weeks of class and did the design problem no later than lab 3.

Exams: The one thing I hated about Eggert was his exams. They are open-ended and unlike any other CS exam -- if anything formatted more like a Social Science test. Simply knowing how things work and how to implement code only helps you a little. You have to really understand the material to be able to answer questions like "Would this Operating System work if we used a custom compiler that laid out the stack and heap like XXXXX? Why or why not?". There are also some questions that seem clear, but are really trick questions or ones you misconstrue until after the TA explains why your answer is right but you got 0 points cause you answered the wrong question. Overall, however, Eggert is good about partial credit, so just write a lot to show you know what you are talking about. Eggert aims for a mean of about 50%, so even if you lose lots of cheap points, so does everyone else. I was pissed that I got a 76% because I felt most of the points I lost were unfair and I desired a 90%. With the curve it was a strong A however.

In my class, the final was a lot easier than the midterm, but that may have just been luck. The format was the same as the midterm, but much longer.

Grading: Overall the class is really hard, but certainly doable. I got an A, while working full-time. With that said, it required spending 1-2 days a week working full-time on projects and homework for this class alone. I didn't study too much for the exams, but being really interested in the material I paid very close attention during the lectures and reviewed both my notes and the scribe notes to make sure I understood everything.

Bottom line: If you are interested in Computer Science and/or Linux/UNIX, you will learn a ton from Eggert and do well in the class. If you do not want to be there or don't care about the details of how OS's work, the projects and exams will be really tedious, and I could see how one could easily fail.

Review posted on Sun 23 Aug 2009
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 111

Eggert is the best professor I've had at UCLA

Admittedly, he's also the hardest. This is both a function of the course material that he teaches being particularly difficult (I took him for CS111 (operating systems) and CS 131 (programming languages)) and the fact that he expects your life to revolve around his class.

Lectures: His biggest selling point is that his lectures are very interesting and very informative. He speaks loudly and clearly, with a lot of animation. It's kind of like watching a philosopher muse to himself about deep questions of the universe.

Projects: Hard. Really hard. He tells you the first day of class that you should expect to spend about 12 hours a week on projects, and I would say thats an underestimate. In CS 111, you do get a partner if you want one, so if you have a buddy you work well with, that's very helpful. Don't expect to go to too many parties while in one of his classes.

Tests: They're very difficult, due to their open-ended nature. The curve is pretty good (averages between 60 and 70 when I took the classes). It's also pretty hard to totally pwn a test, because it's pretty easy for them to doc you a few points here and there. This, combined with a lot of partial credit even for idiotic answers, has the effect of compacting the overall scores into a smaller range, meaning that you can't ace the tests and ignore the projects like some classes.

I would recommend an Eggert taught class for anyone who really wants to learn. If GPA and free time are more important to you than learning, don't take his class, because it's a difficult A.

Review posted on Sat 14 Mar 2009
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 130

There are two parts to this class: the team project, and the tests (midterm and final)

The tests focus on theory, which you get by going to lecture and reading the book. If you do one, you don't really need the other one, in my opinion. Eggert is a great lecturer and his test was incredibly easy for me. It is more North-campusy, meaning the questions are open-ended. Just show you know the material decently well and argue your point. I got a 91% on the midterm (studied for 1 hour, but I did the readings and went to lecture), but the average was around 75!!! I guess most CS people can't handle open-ended questions....

The team project is where you put theory into practice. You choose a real-world project that is being offered by a real-world client. It will probably end up taking a lot of time, but you LEARN SOOOOO MUCH. It is the real-deal; a software engineering project from start to finish.

So, Eggert did a great job.

Review posted on Wed 28 Jan 2009
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 111

I really enjoyed Professor Eggert's class. He was incredibly knowledgeable and had a way of enthralling the entire class. I had though operating systems would be incredibly boring, but Eggert somehow made it very interesting. He is brilliant professor, but ...

This class is pretty close to impossible. That being said, I did get an A. The projects did take about 12 hours per week, so you should certainly not take the class with any other hard ones on your schedule. The funny things about the projects is that you can get about a 90% on each one while only doing half the work. Every project has one last little section that's worth about 10% that is a ridiculous amount of work. If you're a shoddy programmer like me, don't even bother with this part. Oh, and don't bother buying the course reader, if he still has it. Ours was 579 pages, with 2 real pages on each page. This becomes of 1000 pages of uselessness! Finally, a note about the tests. They are difficult, open ended questions that likely don't have any 1 answer. Just put something down for every question, and you'll likely get partial credit. He aims for the average on the tests to be around 50%, but it was around 60% for us. If you do well on the midterm, you'll do well on the final. Same questions, different material.

This class is very difficult. I'd recommend getting a good programmer for the projects, because there is absolutely no way to go it alone. With all this bad stuff, he was still probably my favorite professor. You should definitely take this class with Eggert if you get the chance and don't have too much other work that quarter.

Review posted on Sun 18 Jan 2009
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 111

This class is by far the hardest I've taken at UCLA. This class broke my love for computers and computer science and right now I just have a corrosive hatred for anything to do with computers.
I also had to consult professional help because I was under so much stress during taking this class.
To me, it's not the material, but the way UCLA chooses to do it that is the problem.
The material was honestly not bad, and it was quite interesting, but the management of the class was the worst thing

The specs are UNBELIEVABLY poorly written. Installation instructions are so bad that I spent most of my time googling all the instructions that I wasted 75 % of my time just installing stuff like the emulators.
I consulted professionals who also told me they've never seen such poorly written specs in their life.

The TAs and other professors are not great either. They simply suck, and so does the new prof Nahapetian who's also started teaching 111. Eggert is probably your best bet, because he at least teaches well.

I thought education was all about learning and fueling your love for your learning. We clearly do it differently in colleges like UCLA, CAL, and MIT. I was enamored by the prestige, but I should have probably gone for lesser colleges people might actually care enough to give us good specs!

Review posted on Fri 19 Dec 2008
Course(s) Taken: Computer Science: 111

Professor Eggert is very knowledgeable about operating systems but that makes his class difficult. On the first day of class he tells you that you will need about 12 hours a week of outside work (meaning doing the projects). Its not much of an exaggeration either, there are only 4 labs but there are 2 "mini-labs" which are almost as difficult as the regular labs and the other weeks you are studying for the midterm/final. So basically you will always have something to be working on in this class.
On the upside, you will definitely learn a lot about operating systems. If you want to actually learn something this is a great class, just know that it is definitely NOT an easy A. Eggert's exams are difficult, especially if you are used to pretty much knowing everything about computer science up to this point. The mean is normally set around 60% so expect to be very challenged in this class.

Review posted on Thu 05 Jun 2008
Course(s) Taken: cs 111

He is a great lecturer. I recommend going to them. He's willing to answer anybody's question in class.

The labs were based from MIT. They were really time consuming, so start doing it as soon as possible. If you can find a partner, do so.

I did all the labs alone and it wasn't fun. However, it's doable, if you want.

Read the lab manuals + the lab help pages. They tell us exactly which functions we need to use. Otherwise, you'll end up lost in the kernel library.

His exams were fun. There were no fixed answers, and all of them were from the lectures. I didn't even read the textbook. Try to be an evil programmer and you'll get a lot of them correct.

In summary, this course is more about lab work than the exams. If you think you'll need a lot of help with the labs, take Kohler's class because he writes the lab manuals. But if you like fun lectures, Eggert is one of the best.

Review posted on Fri 22 Feb 2008
Course(s) Taken: CS 35L

Professor Eggert only showed up twice in the class, although he said he'd be there only once. Since it was a lab, the TA taught the course. My TA was very good, so the class wasn't too hard. The class is fairly new as I understand it, so they've basically recycled assignments from past quarters. You basically learn about linux, some networking, and a little about computer security.