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%.

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).

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.

Howard is super good

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.

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.

Howard is super sweet. He's not the easiest to pay attention for 2 hours straight (though he does end lecture earlier quite often considering he doesn't give a break in the middle like other 2 hour classes do) so I honestly found myself slacking and multi-tasking during class. However, he isn't a bad lecturer by any means and comes up with pretty good explanations for topics. I didn't know programming coming in but I think I was onboarded pretty well. I did find myself having to use outside resources alongside since he didn't explain everything the best. The projects are the standard CS31 ones. Project 3 is by far the most time-consuming one and is very difficult if you have not ever used recursion or thought in coding logic--however please don't feel intimidated by how 99% of the class seems to have been coding since they were born. Go to office hours, watch YouTube videos, and don't give up! Exams definitely tested on a lot of tiny quirks on C++ but overall was pretty doable for somebody who didn't pay too much attention in class.

I'm gonna list the cons of the class only here since others mentioned accurate stuff. If you have no experience in coding and are bad at test-taking, do NOT take this class. The one midterm provided is worth 25% and final is 35%. Moreover, he would never accept a regrade in a test.

He has a habit of going on tangents and making the material more confusing than it needs to be. I recommend looking up topics if you don't understand them after lecture. Nevertheless, Pixie is a cute dog. Would take again.

This was my first time taking a CS course and the way the material was broken down and presented was manageable even for a complete beginner like me. The course mark was based on 7 projects, 1 midterm, and 1 final. The projects were reasonable (#3 took up more time than the others tho) but make sure you don't start them last minute and take advantage of office hours if you get stuck. The midterm/final were very straight forward-- make sure you understand the projects because the tests were heavily based on concepts seen in the projects. Overall I enjoyed the class and bonus points for the professor's dog who would often show up on camera.