don't waste your time studying for the midterms or finals, your grade on those is a mix of how good your notes are from lecture and just how lucky you are. Theres a project seemingly every single week so the workload is no joke. Just when you get over one hurdle, theres another waiting around the corner. not a fun class.

This is a very interesting class, and Eggert gives amazing lectures about the ideas of computer science. However, he does not lecture too much about how to do the assignments. The assignments have long specs that can be a little difficult at times, and will require you to learn large amounts of content on your own.

A large portion of your grade is a group project where you make a web app. Start early and try to get a responsible group and you will be fine.

The exams are extremely difficult, but curved heavily. Make sure you to write something for every question, and explain how you would approach a problem if you don't know how to do it.

Eggert is a fun lecturer and exam questions generally come from lecture, so just show up and actually think actively about the material and you'll be ok there. The workload is mainly concentrated in the quarter long group project - make sure you get a good group (seriously), and if you want to prepare for something before the quarter starts, make it that. Assignments aren't bad, the instructions hold your hand pretty hard and apparently the discussions are useful for that too.

Completely agree with the previous reviews. The difficulty and workload of this course is beyond ridiculous. Be prepared for a rough quarter if you do decide to take cs 131 with the project lead of the tz database.

Homeworks were so long and hard that it was even funny. HW 2 and 5 were the challenging ones, but IMO the hardest was HW 3 (Java), the one about multithreaded gzip compression. We had less than a week to do that one, which was not nearly enough time. The only upside about this quarter's HW was that we had an autograder to test our submissions.

As usual with Eggert's exams, they have medians of ~ 50 percent and it is very hard to study for them. While many of the written conceptual questions are quite fair given what was covered in lecture, others were not. Many questions had very little to do with the lectures and seemed so random that you could only make an educated guess and move on.

On the bright side, I'm impressed by the TAs for this iteration of cs 131 (s/o to Matthew Wang and Ashwin Ranade). They were very helpful in explaining key programming languages concepts and clarifying assignment specs on Campuswire. TA Matthew even organized a review session the week before the final to go over the most important concepts in this course and answer any questions students had. And many of the key ideas Matthew emphasized in the review session did end up making its way onto the final!

Looking back, I'm grateful that I learned a lot about PLs and more importantly, how to think critically (mostly from the TAs, less so from Eggert). But given the choice, would I choose to take cs 131 with Eggert? Hell no!

As a student who recently completed Professor Eggert's COM SCI 35L - Software Construction Laboratory class, I can attest to the fact that this is one of the most challenging and rewarding computer science classes I have ever taken. The course is known for its difficulty, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. However, the skills and knowledge I gained from the course were well worth the effort I put in.

One of the things that sets this course apart from others is the emphasis on hands-on learning. The six "lab" assignments cover a variety of topics that are loosely related to what is covered during lecture. This means that a significant amount of learning takes place outside of class. For example, the first lab assignment involves learning how to use Linux and the Emacs text editor, which are essential tools for software development. Later labs involve working with Python, Javascript, React, Git, C, and lower-level Git. Each of these topics is important in its own right, and I appreciated the opportunity to learn them in a practical context.

The group project is also a valuable learning experience. Students work in teams to develop a full-stack web application using Javascript and React. This project requires students to apply the skills and concepts they learned during the labs, as well as additional knowledge about web development. It also requires effective communication and collaboration, as each team member is responsible for a different part of the project.

The exams are by far the most difficult part of the course. Professor Eggert makes his exams with the intention of a 50% average, which means that they are intentionally challenging. However, I found that paying attention to the topics and overarching ideas during lecture was helpful in preparing for the exams. While the questions themselves often required me to think beyond those ideas, having a solid understanding of the big picture was essential. Professor Eggert's exams test your intuition behind certain computer science topics rather than specific, concrete concepts. This means that they require a deeper understanding of the material than a typical exam would.

Outside of class, Professor Eggert is known globally for maintaining the time zone database, known as tzdb. I found it fascinating that my professor was a recognized authority on such an important and widely used resource. This speaks to the level of expertise and knowledge that he brings to the classroom.

Overall, I would highly recommend Professor Eggert's COM SCI 35L - Software Construction Laboratory class to any computer science student who is up for a challenge. The course is intense in terms of workload, but the skills and knowledge gained are invaluable. The hands-on labs and group project provide practical experience with essential tools and technologies, and the exams push students to think deeply about computer science topics. Professor Eggert's expertise and passion for the subject make him an excellent instructor, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from him.

Very tough, but still worth taking even if your major doesn't require it.

I took this course in Fall 22 and have to say, the course seems to have become a lot less work in recent years. Now, Professor Eggert uses Eyolfson's Labs for the majority of his assignments (excluding a short paper at the end) which are far easier than the assignments he used to give out (though they're a bit less interesting). The decrease in workload coupled with Eggert's fantastic lectures makes this class a pretty great one. The tests are the only real beast to beat but I managed an A with around a 60 on the midterm and a 75 on the final. Just stay on top of things and print out all your notes and assignments and you should be good to go. I would also recommend paying attention to the resources provided by your TAs for help with the assignments.
Overall, 10/10 would take again.

Homework 2 and homework 3 are so ridiculous this class should never ever exist. Please just take it with Carey.
Just to add to this - homework 5 sucks too. Fuck Eggert.

First of all, this class is very difficult. The assignments take time to figure out, and Dr. Eggert's tests are notoriously unpredictable and difficult. Plus, the assignment grading was super slow this quarter, with 3/6 assignments returned as of the start of finals week. I went into this class expecting the worst, but I actually learned a lot coming out of it. Though he doesn't give you much help on assignments, Dr. Eggert's lectures are incredibly engaging because of how much he knows about everything (he also casually throws insults at random stuff like mac users and c++ without intention, which is also pretty funny). Besides, the TAs are very helpful in terms of guiding you through assignments. By the end of the class, you will likely have learned many useful concepts and tools for industry (aside from emacs, sorry Eggert) as long as you try your hardest on all assignments. Plan around this class if you wish to take it - don't take this class with another difficult class. Plus, Dr. Eggert writes the assignments, but the TAs grade them with their own rubrics, so pay attention to Piazza posts about the assignments. Though grading is incredibly slow, the TAs (at least for this qtr) seem to be pretty lenient and won't give you too much of a hard time as long as you adhere to their rubric. Make sure you do your best on all the assignments cuz you are not getting 'em back until weeks 9-10. It was a very tough journey for me, but it was worth it.

Professor Eggert's teaching style is jumping around random topics. Honestly, thought a lot of the information that you learn is very applicable for a real software engineering job, however it was a lot to digest in the format it was taught. Grading wise, I received an A-, but the curve on the final was definitely a big help. Eggert doesn't reveal the curve statistics, but I definitely walked out of that final with a 40% or less, but got curved to an 85%. Not sure if the midterm is curved. Another big portion of your grade is the group project, and I believe the score you receive is completely dependent on the ta grading your project.