The professor is so "helpful" in a way that you could learn everything on your own by simply reading the required papers. Her homework's based on those papers, her quizzes are based on those papers, and she gets impatient when you ask questions, telling you to "re-read those (extremely long) papers" without specifying which parts she wants you to re-read. For every class, she assigns several required long readings, which take more time than her lecture if you read everything through. If I could read and remember all those papers with ease, I would never be sitting in this class. I came here to get help from a knowledgeable person who should be able to clarify my misunderstandings, not to be instructed on re-reading papers. She's acting more like a librarian than a professor.

Also, her voice is small and she has no microphone. You can barely hear her if you are sitting behind the 3rd line.

A very enjoyable graduate level course. the subject matter is so advanced that there are no textbooks yet. reading material is just plain text RFCs. Lixia Zhang even wrote some of them. Grading a little odd.

Learning networks from Prof.Zhang is pure pleasure. She is extremely knowledgeable and has been there done that. She is also concerned about student understanding and wont hesitate to repeat entire lectures if she finds that students are struggling a little with certain topics. The course is fairly heavy though not overly so. If you read the RFCs and lecture slides she posts, you will have no problem with the course. It is the kind of course that motivates you to learn more about networks. She is super busy though so dont expect your quizes to be graded in time. But when she is available, she wont blow you off if you go to her during office hours. Do try to attend her classes. They are definitely worth it.