Prof Nowatzki is pretty amazing overall. His shortcomings are that his lecture slides can be confusing and his lecturing style sometimes boring (like many people too deep in CS, he can lose sight of what it's like learning that material for the first time). His advantages are what makes this of the most enjoyable classes I've had at UCLA: extremely active on Piazza, super nice attitude (very pleasant office hours), wacky sense of humour (makes every project goofy, jokes in slides, posted funny finals answers as his last piazza message), lots of practice material for exams. I found it really worthwhile to go to two discussions since my TA (shoutout to Atefeh) had really good summary slides and Yugo Wantanabe (the legend himself) was 50% of the reason i understood anything at all in the class. TLDR: content can be hard but prof w great attitude plus helpful TA outweigh that.

Prof. Nowatzki is one of those teachers that obviously cares about student learning. He's readily available to answer student questions, is very active on the Piazza forum with thoughtful responses and some funny jokes, and has an engaging lecture style. The midterm and final are straightforward, and Nowatzki provides his midterms and finals from previous years as well as a Google Drive of study material for you to practice. The projects are all pretty manageable except for the malloc lab, which was 30 hours of stepping through GDB while sobbing. That being said, I got a C on that lab but an A+ in the class, so don't sweat it too much. My TA was also SUPER helpful. If you can, definitely take Yugo Watanabe's discussion section! 10/10 one of the best TAs at UCLA. Overall, it's not difficult to get an A as long as you actually pay attention in class and clutch on the final. Would take again with this professor!

Very active professor on Piazza

He is one of the nicest CS professors you can ever hope for. He gives reasonable mdt and finals with practice exams. The projects are pretty hard but he gives plenty of time with extra credits. He is very active on Piazza where you can ask him anything from CS-related questions to "Are you a junkrat main". Take him as your CS33 Professor at all cost(He only teaches in winter).

I took CS33 with professor Nowatzki in Winter 2017. Back in then it was his first time teaching but I enjoyed his class so much. This is probably the most fundamental undergrad CS course, and I really benefit a lot from his lectures. Professor Nowatzki is one of the greatest professors in CS department. His lectures are concise and straightforward. Projects are not hard at all if you follow the instructions (and he gives extra credit as well). Tests are easy and fair. Overall this is a great class with generous curve and grading scheme, and you would never regret taking CS33 with him. I would recommend everyone to take his class.

The difference in what I retained before the midterm and what I retained after the midterm is day and night. I was able to remember most of the pre-midterm material very easily but after the midterm, the pace picked up heavily and a lot of material got completely lost on me. Thankfully, there is more than enough extra credit on projects and on tests that is available to still get a great grade in the class while still missing a few items on the final.

Super cool professor and very active on Piazza. Mostly teaches in Winter.