(Warning: unpopular opinion ahead!)
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Professor Eggert is *fantastic* and one of the best professors the UCLA Computer Science department has to offer. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the field and stays up to date on modern improvements. CS 35L is essentially a crash course in "how to do programming in practice"; i.e., one of the most practical courses in our theory-heavy curriculum. Very few other schools have such a course; MIT taught it in a one-off, calling it "the missing semester" of your CS education (https://missing.csail.mit.edu/). That doesn't mean it's not useful. This course will teach you a broad range of subjects that will help you gain familiarity with what it's like to actually program as a job or as a hobby: you need wide-ranging knowledge of how computer systems work, proficiency in scripting languages (Bash, emacs lisp, Python) and terminal usage, you ideally should master an IDE of some sort (yes, Eggert is a bit outdated with Emacs), and menagerie other niche topics this course teaches.

What the above is essentially saying is that this course is different but incredibly useful, and may be the one you'll find most immediately relevant to your everyday working experience on a computer. That being said, unless you have years of programming and messing around on a computer behind you, this class will be quite challenging since it tries to teach (in my opinion) at least two or three years of hacking around on a computer in a mere quarter. That's crazy. Good luck. But if you don't find this course fun, challenging, or interesting, that might be a wake up call that your life sitting at a desk in a corporation will also not be too exciting. Just saying.
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Of course, most people agree that Prof. Eggert lectures well. They're most concerned about the tests and, of course, the grades. And I will say: Professor Eggert tests like no other. He asks open-ended questions that require broad knowledge of the subject and, generally, a deeper understanding of how each subject he's lectured on works, and oftentimes how they would work together. This means his tests are perhaps the most academically rigorous: despite all the fun you may make of humanities majors, you'll suddenly be in their playing field on an exam. For many of the questions, you must make an argument that uses technical details, sure, but overall shows a concrete understanding of the larger system of components at hand in the class. That's right, timed writing is back. I actually quite prefer this testing style since it's partial credit heavy and tests deeper understanding over mere rote memorization of certain technical processes... but your mileage may vary!
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Anyways. I'd say "take the class!" but you have to. So instead I'll say: pay attention to Eggert's wise words, laugh at his jokes, and remember if you're feeling overwhelmed that everyone else is, too.

Eggert is a great lecturer, horrible test writer. This class teaches you so much so fast and it hurts while you're learning it all for the first time. However, at the end I feel like I learned so many skills that I could put into actual use, such as app development. It's gonna be a tough quarter, so take a light course load. I believe in you!

This class kicked my ass. There are 6 homeworks, 2 tests, and a group project. Homeworks just sucked. You have to learn so much in such a short time. I barely was able to keep up. Eggert is a wonderful guy, however, and is a great lecturer. Tests are made by the devil himself. The team project is a react native app that you create. That was fun.

Each Paul Eggert lecture feels like an open window into his mind. He is incredibly expressive during lectures—his over 50 years of experience in software development truly provides profound insights.

Topics such as shell scripting, regular expressions, and Git internals may seem boring, but Eggert finds a way to make them engaging, topical and interesting.

Yes, his exams are difficult, but they are questions pulled directly from lecture. If you print out your lecture notes, you should be able to answer every question on his exams. I am not sure what the other reviews are talking about.

However, while Eggert was an absolute charm to learn under, his TAs were the most unprofessional, embarrassing, and unorganized I've ever seen. Particular TAs, such as Jason Kimko, were power-hungry and arrogant, and would take off points for "wasting his time." Regrade requests were met with defensive comments suggesting that their point of view could never be wrong.

In addition, each TA would have guidelines for how the project would be graded. Some have more emphasis on Git commits, others on presentation, etc. You could get massively screwed over if your TA decides to grade it ever so differently than the others.

However, I will say that the TA I had, Yuxing Qiu, was the nicest TA ever. She also had very fair grading for the project.

Overall, this class was an amazing experience. Eggert is a natural lecturer and provides a lot of experience and wisdom about the field.

It's no secret that this class is a horribly designed class with long assignments, an absolutely insane project that you have no support for, and horrible exams, so instead, I'm dedicating this review to the TA's, who are to be blunt pretty awful. The class was so poorly organized with very long waits to get grades, and the TA's would often contradict the professor and each other about the requirements for each assignment/project. Additionally, we would receive grades for different assignments for different places, and they would take points off for regrade requests deemed insufficient. Special shoutouts to Arvind Vepa, who is easily one of the worst TA's I've come across. Vepa was super anal about grading, whether it be the project or assignments or tests. Hell, in Fall 2022, Vepa apparently graded his section's projects so harshly that Eggert of all people had to intervene and give that section better grades for their projects.

Anyways, if you don't need this class, don't take it. It's not worth the stress.

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.

Eggert might be a good researcher, but def not a good professor.

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.