If you come in with coding knowledge, this class will be easy for you and lectures are going to be very boring. If you don't know how to code, Howard will walk you through everything. If you've never coded in C before, pay attention to his lectures on pointers and make sure you take good notes. The 2-hour lectures could definitely be shorter. He occasionally ends lectures early though if he gets through all the material he had planned for the day. When working on the projects, make sure to pay attention to the specs and any extra spec information he gives in class. Like any class, make sure to start projects early and break it up into chunks.

Howard is super good

Stahl is a lovely guy but my god were lectures tough to sit through. I ended up stopping going halfway through and watching the Bruincast at 2x speed because he speaks so so slow. Projects were ok but usually a little long and as a complete novice when it comes to Computer Science, I struggled a little but office hours were super helpful. Midterm was easy with a cheat sheet and I didn't take the final because due to Coronavirus, he allowed us the option to opt out. He is super helpful and does care about his students a lot, especially if there's a grading mistake or if you ask for an extension.
He probably one of the better professors for this class and is a really nice guy so I would suggest taking CS31 with him. Plus if you have any C++ experience you'll find this class a breeze.

Professor Stahl is a great person but it is almost impossible to sit through his lectures. If it is bruincasted which it most likely is, watch those on 2x speed. His lectures go over material and things needed for the project; nothing much else. Discussion helped me the most if you get a great TA (Angelina Poole is the best!). Projects are decent; one of mine I mistyped something when uploading a project producing a compile error and getting a 2/100. But I emailed him and he fixed the error and rerun it for me giving me a 100. He cares for his students so much, and he is super lenient with tardiness. However, he does not prepare you well for cs32... The transition from 31 to 32 (which I had Smallberg) was quite hard for me. Overall, Stahl puts his students first, and is likable; if you know the material, then projects should come by relatively easy.

I do not recommend going to lecture as you will likely zone out and not pay attention for most of the class. Stahl is eloquent in his speaking style, but his lecture style gets boring really fast. I recommend watching the bruin casts as you can manipulate the speed of the lecture. I had no coding experience coming into college, so this class was a huge adjustment for me. Luckily the tests were relatively easy, the averages being around 80. Office hours for this class are really useful, especially when working on projects. I only realized during the last week on the quarter that the textbook gives great explanations.

I can't speak too much on Prof Stahl as I only attended the very first lecture and did not watch any Bruincasts, as I knew that I would not be able to handle 2 hours of his lecturing style twice a week for 10 weeks. He comes off as a nice guy but he is not engaging in the slightest, so I decided to rely entirely on my experience with Java from AP Computer Science (my only coding experience). With this experience I was able to cop an A class by only learning how to convert my Java knowledge to C++ knowledge, the logic that we go through in class is mostly the same with key differences only showing up near the end of the quarter. The projects are graded fairly strictly if you make any mistakes, but as long as you start them early and ask questions to the TA in your discussion section, you should not run into anything insurmountable even with less experience. I am not familiar with the other professors, but overall there is not much that would make me either recommend or not recommend this class (in other words, this class is average, nothing horrible but not much great either).

P.S. If you are not a CS major, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS FALL QUARTER. You are going to take it with CS majors and will need to do almost perfect on every assignment to even have a hope of succeeding due to everyone else being years, even decades, ahead of you in knowledge (I know this from friends who took it a quarter before me).

Overall, class is easy, but lectures are dry. I thought all the projects were relatively straightforward and easy to complete, and the TAs and professors are more than happy to help you with any problems. The lectures were very boring, but they were bruincasted, and you can just run through them at 2x so it's not too bad. Discussion aren't mandatory, and there isn't much reason to go unless you're really have trouble with the material or with the project for the week. The midterm was pretty easy, and it had an average of ~82%.

CS 31 with Stahl was a good intro class. As someone who took APCS in high school, I thought the workload was manageable and the first half of the class was very easy. Most of the projects were straightforward, with the notable exception of parts of 3, 4, and 6. The midterm was also pretty easy, as Stahl really does not try to trick you on exams (unlike some other CS professors). Our final become optional due to COVID-19.

My main complaint with this class is that Stahl is not a very effective lecturer. He speaks in a very monotone voice, which makes it difficult to pay attention for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time. Some of his analogies don't really make sense or are needlessly complicated, such as with objects, classes, and new/delete operators. Maybe I was just taught things a different way, though.

The TAs make this class a good experience. Every TA I spoke with (particularly Angelina Poole), was able to break down concepts clearly and effectively and address points of confusion. Unlike some other south campus TAs from physics, math, and chemistry, Stahl's CS TAs really seem to know how to teach.

Overall, I would take Stahl's class again. However, if you are new to programming or just want to understand the later topics (pointers, new/delete, etc) really well, I suggest going to your TA's office hours.

Preface: I'm not a CS or Engineering major or anything related to this course. I just took it to see if I would like it.

Stahl himself is a great guy - very quirky and occasionally makes good jokes. He is extremely patient (sometimes I don't understand how patient he is) and will go to great lengths to help students. But his lectures are so so boring and he talks so quietly that it's so easy to fall asleep in the large, dark, cold room that is Moore 100. His lectures simply consist of him going through his slides, which he does post on CCLE, along with Bruincasts of his lecture, so in that respect, you don't really need to go to class.

The class is 40% Projects (there's 7 of them), 25% Midterm, and 35% Final. Midterm and final are open note (but notes don't really help) and they're kinda tricky even though he says they aren't. Projects can be tough so I highly recommend starting early in the week and do a little by little. Cheating on them will not help because some of them require you to know your stuff.

Discussion sections are also not required to attend and if you do, you can attend any one of your choosing. And while also boring/monotonous, they do help more than Stahl's lectures.

I personally would not take a class with Stahl again. I WOULD, on the other hand, be open to having a cup of coffee or something to get to know him better, because he's seems like a great guy and his dog is very cute (<3 Pixie).

This class was good for an introductory programming class, with the professor being reasonable and helpful. As someone with no prior experience, I struggled a bit more than classmates, which meant spending a few days of the week at office hours to understand the projects better. He does not explain the projects that well in class, so make sure you ask questions in office hours, most of the TAs are very helpful. His midterm was very fair, and the final was optional (due to the coronavirus). Overall, this class definitely sparked my interest in CS.