I had PIC 10A with this professor. I didn't really talk to him, but he seemed nice enough and he encouraged questions during lecture, which was cool. You definitely should go to lecture in my opinion. Sometimes a couple questions (or similar ones) from lecture show up on the tests. My only problem, was that he went a quite fast and seemed like he thought we all had some background in programming even though it's an intro class(which it seems like a lot did). I did not have any prior knowledge so sometimes I found myself lost in class because he went quickly. He also covered a lot of material. His first midterm was easy and I did well, but then he moved a lot faster and made the second one a lot harder and the average went way down. His final was somewhere more in the middle. I had to study quite a bit, but I ended up with a B. It's doable, but I would suggest a slower professor if you've never done any programming to make your life a little easier.

Took PIC 10A and self-studied for the entire quarter. Avoid this guy and Barbaro if you can - their curve is stupid for an intro class. And beware the noobs who couldn't handle CS 31A and took refuge in this class - they make the class unfair.

I am currently taking PIC 10A with this guy. He is the worst professor ever. I ended up learning everything on my own. His lectures and power points are useless. They are straight out of the book and he skips over a lot of important information that ends up being on the tests. He also assigns the same homework from previous PIC professors. Just study on your own and you can pull it off.

I am taking his PIC 10A this quarter
you dont have to go to the lecture, since he will upload all the lecture ppt and example file to the website
and don't even worry about you will miss something for not attending the lecture, since his lecture is very
confusing and disorganized.
Just stay home, learn the stuff by your own, but definitely go to the TA discussion to learn about the homework
The test is not very challenging, but make sure you are familiar with coding on blank paper and you will be fine
I messed up my first midterm, but just got A for second midterm after understanding his pattern, now let see how the final is tomorrow!

To be honest, the class is very boring, but I won't say he is the worst professor, since
that are many professor in Econ department who are way worse than him.

I had this professor for PIC 10A (it wouldn't let me submit without choosing a class). His lectures were THE MOST BORING THING EVER. He was not engaging at all, and a lot of people fell asleep or stopped showing up. That said, I would recommend going to all of them because he goes over exactly what will show up on the mid terms and final in his lectures as programming exercises in class.

The homework wasn't particularly hard or confusing, just tedious. Get started on the assignments early (especially the ones near the end of the quarter because those took much longer than the first few), and understand everything you're doing on them because he asks questions on the tests which are very similar to the homework. The class wasn't hard - I gave the homework its due diligence and went to all the lecture and got an A.

I took PIC10A during Spring 2010. I don't know why people say don't go to lecture, his style is very different but I went to almost every lecture and learned valuable information at each one. The book for the class is not very helpful. I also got an A and have never programmed in my life before. If you do bad on the exams it is probably because you did not go to lecture. The discussions are only alright, it depends on whether the TA is helpful. I would highly recommend Prof Ifti. I read over the other professor's slides to review concepts and I think Prof Ifti's way of presenting the material is helpful to understand computers and programming in general. He also incorporates tech facts at the start of lecture and has students write a blog which I thought was a good addition to the class. He replies to emails very fast as well. Overall good class. Not as hard as CS31 because you aren't required to make programs fool proof, but it teaches you similar stuff.

Took Math with Ifti. His lectures were really boring and came straight from the book (literally-- he copied everything word-for-word and even read all the sentences out loud). However, his weekly homework was really doable, but it sucked having to come to class every Friday just to turn in the homework (I developed a habit of reading the book for myself during class time in the library instead of listening to him read it to me). His tests were super straight forward and I ended up with a B+ with pretty minimal effort. I don't even think a curve was necessary.

I took Ifti for PIC 10A. Honestly, the most miserable class I have ever taken. This class is a prereq for a number of majors, including mine. He was not concerned if anyone in the class learned anything and the majority of the students taking the class were taking it for fun and were experts on the subject. Luckily there is a generous curve. Some friends and I were within the lowest percentage of the class and we still all passed. If you do all the work, you are guaranteed to pass with at least a C. I don't know anyone who has ever failed his class.

The work itself is tedious so be ready for the PIC lab to become your home away from home. His tests are impossible and I had a low F until he finally curved our grades after the final and I passed.