IMPORTANT NOTES:
- I made a Bruinwalk account simply to write this review for Michael.
- I've also have had previous web experience before taking his class, so my judgment of difficulty may be slightly off.

Michael is arguably one of the best professors I've had during my time at UCLA. His explanations and style of teaching (actually writing code live in lecture) are engaging and easy to follow. Furthermore, every lecture is incredibly applicable, and almost every single example is close to the exact solution needed in the homework (so if you pay attention the homeworks should come fairly easily).

Michael also has a genuine interest in understanding the correct way to do things when programming (ex. using ++x versus x++), and is always open to further discussion after class or during his office hours.

I'll admit that there is a lot of content to cover in the class, especially if you are unfamiliar with web applications, but if you give your all in lecture, I believe the course is extraordinarily fair and interesting.

This class caused me sooooo much stress. I don't know what happened the quarter I took it but I did not find Michael to be that great of a teacher, at least not for an intro class. He clearly knew a lot about the subject but his logic was not always clear and I often lost him during lecture. To put this into perspective, the average of the midterm was a 52%, two thirds of the class did not pass the exam, and a third of the class got BELOW a 30%, a third! That is ridiculous in my opinion, scores that bad cannot all be due to the students. I got a 35% on the midterm, which really made me consider making the class p/np, but I studied super hard for the final, got a D, and ended with a B+ because of the curve and because I got 100 in the hw category (average for the final was a 56%). So it is possible to do well, just gotta be willing to give this class a LOT of time and effort.

Andrews is a really great professor. His lectures are generally engaging and he does very useful examples in class.

His tests are like the more difficult homework problems and are generally manageable. If you can do all the problems in the homework you'll be fine. His final was slightly more difficult but if you do enough practice, you'll be fine

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Professor Andrews is probably the single best Professor I had at UCLA. His grading scheme is 70% HW, 10% Midterm and 15% Final with no homework drops. The A cutoff is a 95% raw score, but this should NOT deter you from taking his course. I didn't get a 100% on every homework and still ended with a 97% raw score. The homeworks are direct applications of what you learn in class. However, be aware that this mans is an absolute troll and makes you think of some edge cases. But with that said, once you get the desired output, it is extremely rewarding. The Final is very similar to the homeworks (I would strongly argue it was even easier than any of the homeworks maybe aside from homework 1). The midterm was something else. It was an assessment of do you actually know what is happening with your code and why your output is the way it is. This isn't some midterm that you can just take without watching the lectures. Luckily, he has the single most clear and engaging lecture of anyone I have every had at UCLA (next to great profs I've had such as Rubin). We went through basic Python, NumPy, PyQt, Pandas, and basic ML so there are plenty of applications that you are working with. Our TA, Ben, was really helpful with the homeworks. He moved at a relatively slow pace which I personally thought was too slow but better too slow than too fast. I'm extremely bummed this class is over and would love to take either a math or another PIC class with Professor Andrews in the near future.

Professor Andrews is the best programming professor I have had at UCLA as part of the PIC program getting a specialization in computing. His mathematical background makes him spend a great deal of time in class with understanding the semantics of Python (not obvious, especially when it comes to say NumPy broadcasting) and his midterm focused on that. However, his HWs are a joy, Once they are done, you see the power of Python from databases (Pandas), to image processing (numpy), to user interfaces (pyQt) to more basic stuff like string processing.

What is really remarkable about his class is that he covers a lot of ground, and so cannot teach any one topic (say numPy) in depth. But he taught us to search for documentation and many of his HWs use features he made us search for in. This is a great preparation, so it seems to me, for real life programming where you just cannot start programming till you "know it all" because there's just too much out there.

He's clearly a fun guy; he has a PhD from MIT in some abstract topology topics. he seems to love music, and through the class you get a sense of his likes in movies, music etc. I almost skipped this class to take a Matlab class but if I had I would have missed out on a great UCLA class. Take him, not just to get a grade but to learn a lot that is useful for life.

The TA Ben was very good as well.

Even though most of the class didn't like his way of teaching, I found it very helpful. He writes everything he says on the board, which slows down the class, but his class is engaging and often funny. I really wanted to take his class for 30B, but it wasn't offered so I had to take it with a very hard prof, which dropped by GPA a lot. He is great if you can tolerate a slow-paced class.

This was probably the best programming class I've taken so far. I was a bit scared to be learning so many languages at once but Michael did a phenomenal job teaching them. I always felt extremely confident going into an assignment. In fact, I had fun doing them. I think my favorite part of the class was that I could see the progress I was making as I completed assignments. Most of the assignments are components that you ultimately compile to create a series of beautiful and interactive web pages that allow users to sign in, play a game, and record their scores. Unlike what I've experienced with some other programming classes, the connections between lecture content and the demands of the assignments were super clear. So if you pay attention in class/watch lectures you should do fine on the assignments. However, the midterm was toughhh. Each question contained some code that presented a concept (like scoping or object inheritance) in a bizarre context and we had to write the correct output. Luckily, there were two grading schemes that shifted the weight between the midterm and final. More luckily, the final was extremely easy. Most of the final exam grade was dependent on the functionality of our final assignment (the series of web pages). A small portion of our final grade was dependent on a short written exam that asked us to write code for potential additions to our project and one unrelated question that asked us to write code to make a simple web page for a specific task (i.e. execute correct output for user's input). Overall, I highly recommend taking this course if you are interested in web design and development. Not only did I learn a lot on this front, but I had a lot of fun doing it and I hope you do as well!

For those who said Andrews was the “best” Professor, seriously dude? With much tears and regret, I dropped the class a day before the finals week.

Having taken Calculus in high school, I found this class very easy, but Andrews really solidified some details that I had forgotten. Lectures are helpful and often hilarious (Andrews is super funny), homeworks are long but useful for the time-tight midterms, and the final was fair and took me only 90 min (we get 3 hours). Overall, great experience - I'm taking 31B with Andrews again next quarter!

Michael's lectures are extremely easy to follow with clear explanations and examples for each topic that he goes over. The workload is not too difficult to keep up with as well, probably around 20 problems a week - give or take - due mostly each Friday. Office hours are also very helpful and I would really recommend going if you have any questions. Be careful when studying for the midterms and final though because there were always one or two questions that would stump me, but would end up having an elegant, simple solution.