AWESOME PROFESSOR!!!!! very engaging and he prints out his powerpoints so we can use them on the tests! he's hilarious, as everyone has already said. of course, don't be afraid to take smallberg, who actually knows more about C++ than nachenberg does (carey kept redirecting specific questions to him).

Do whatever you can to take Nachenberg! Like other comments say, he hands out candy and prize tickets (essentially raffle tickets for a prize drawing at the end of the quarter) during class which keeps things lively. He puts a ton of effort into his lectures and puts all his great Powerpoint slides online. He's funny, good at communicating, has plenty of real insight since he's involved in the software industry, and really cares about his students learning. Can't recommend him enough.

The guy teaches for free because he wants to, so he's gotta be good. He is good.

As much as Carey makes fun of David Smallberg, Smallberg is much more experienced in C++ than Carey is. Carey admits this. I took CS31 with Smallberg and miss his thorough and detailed explanations. Carey's examples are very basic and crude, but Smallberg offers realistic examples. Carey tends to simplify things too much for those who desire the details behind the code. So if you're a beginner or EE major, go for Carey, but for CS majors who want a good foundation in C++, Smallberg is the better choice. That being said, you can't go wrong with either professor.

I'm going to make my evaluation simple and concise.

Carey is an amazing teacher. One, because his teaching is indeed effective and helps his students fully understand the concepts. But more importantly, he cares so much about his students. He will go out of his way to help students get a good grade in this class. I was literally in awe when he messaged me on facebook chat and told me what my grade for the quarter was probably going to be. Like I said, he cares a great deal about his students and wants them to succeed. He's the most down-to-earth teacher you'll ever meet at any university. Don't miss out on Carey.

I don't really agree with the review from 24 Jan 2010, i think that person was just frustrated over project 1 and decided to write a bad review. Nachenberg might not have specifically said not to include .cpp files, but if you study his slide handouts, its pretty obvious that you're only supposed to include .h files.

He was definitely the one of the best professors i've had, and much better than smalleberg. Nachenberg's powerpoints are very clear and organized, and they walk you through complex algorithms step by step so that you really understand them. He also prints out handouts of his slides and gives them to you so you can annotate them and can use them to study from. This, i felt, was the key factor of why he is better than smallberg. There is just way too much material to write everything down by hand, and his powerpoints are always going to be clearer and neater than any notes you take. And since the midterm and final are open notes, having good notes is very important. Smallberg, on the other hand, does not have powerpoints, and does not give you handouts, so you just have to write down everything that he types in his text editor thing. When i was taking the midterm, I felt like i had a hugely unfair advantage when i looked over at the person next to me and he was struggling to read his messy notebook, while i had stacks of neat, organized powerpoint slides that covered every algorithm in step by step detail.

Nachenberg is a good lecturer and he presents the material clearly, though i felt he answered too many questions that were either stupid or off-topic. He wants every single person to understand a concept before he moves on, which is good, but can also be bad too. Aso, he can be funny sometimes, but other times his jokes are kind of immature. He was definitely never boring though, and is NOT one of those professors that just drones on mindlessly and puts you to sleep.

Overall, he is very good. Take him. Or enroll in smallberg and go to his lectures and get his handouts. There was a good ~30 seconds of applause for him at the end of the last lecture, which doesn't sound like much, but think about it. 30 seconds. Look at your clock and count that out. That's a long time of straight clapping for him, so people obviously appreciated his teaching.

His slides are awesome, 不解释

I don't how anyone can write a bad review about him?! personally, I do not like CS. I'd never taken any courses before CS 31 and had no knowledge what so ever about programming and I hated the first quarter i took cs. but Nachenberg totally makes you understand. he makes sure you get everything! and he is always available via email or in office hours for help! also for the projects, the best way would be to start early and go to TA's and professors' office hours. It is a tough course, but it's not because he makes it hard, it's just the nature of the subject! and yes, he is very funny and his classes are quite fun compared to other classes I've taken.

I decided to enroll in Nachenberg's class after seeing all the positive reviews but I must say I disagree now that I have actually taken it. While he is pretty interesting and tells random stories a lot, this hampers his ability to teach effectively. He was always joking about how Smallberg is ridiculously slow and how he can use the extra time to tell us stories. Of course, this was all while Smallberg was reiterating important points over and over again.

If you've entered CS31 with absolutely no knowledge and you are now entering CS32, I highly recommend that you DO NOT take it with Nachenberg. One of the most important facts for Project 1 (you NEVER include .cpp files. Probably common knowledge for people who know how to program, but since I've never programmed before...) was never stated by Nachenberg (I was definitely paying attention that class that he should have said it.) while my friend told me that Smallberg must have stated that fact 10 or so times. Smallberg may be a little more boring than Nachenberg, but it seems that if Nachenberg goes over a certain topic for about an hour, Smallberg will go over that same topic for an hour one day, then spend 20 minutes reviewing it the next two days.

Nachenberg is definitely not a bad lecturer since he keeps it interesting, but if you don't know how to program, Smallberg is the better choice to teach you.

While Carey is an effective lecturer, he is by no means the "best" at UCLA. I agree that he is kind, concerned, and outgoing, but his lectures can be dull. His project are tough, so follow his advice and start early on projects 3 and 4. The best way to study for his midterms is to search online for problems on linked lists, stacks and queues, recursion, big-oh notation...basically all of data structures and algorithms.

Not only was he the best professor I've ever had, but he's a great person in general. UCLA is incomplete without the Nachenberg experience.