Overall, I enjoyed my experience with Professor Andrews! I had very little prior experience programming and I personally really, really liked his lecture style of coding directly on the screen as it was much easier to apply lecture knowledge directly to homework + review, in comparison to slides.

He was also very accommodating with COVID-19 and participation in lecture/discussion was not mandatory. The grading structure was 75% HW, 10% midterm, 15% final. We had around 6 HW assignments (there was actually 7 total, but everyone get full credit for the 7th one), with none dropped since HW was weighted so highly.

The homework can be challenging but plenty of time is given to work on each assignment (~1 week and sometimes more), and if you go to office hours he is very helpful with going through how to tackle the logic of each problem. Although discussions weren't mandatory I found my TA's to be very helpful! Helpful tips: Always read through the directions/guidelines for HW thoroughly, if you're on a Mac make sure to run your code through Visual Studios even if you feel confident, start HW early (I'm guilty of starting some of the assignments the day they were due but would not recommend), DO NOT re-name function names (or else your code won't compile on the grader's computer), and attend OHs if you're struggling!

I also really liked the untraditional midterm and final structure. The "short" exam solutions were posted by the professor (aka the answers alone), and students submitted detailed, "perfect" solutions to the exams at end of week. These solutions needed to include diagrams similar to the ones the professor drew in class, along with key terms and concepts to really show your understanding of the question.

I do NOT have experience in coding, so I intimidated coming into this class, but I ended up with a good grade because the professor was fantastic. His homework forces students to really grasp every concept and to have control over coding. With that being said, he grades his midterm and final in a way that checks for our understanding and not if we got the question right. I've never seen a professor do this and honestly, I think this is a model for grading that other professors should follow. Professor Andrews really emphasizes our learning instead of pure memorization or dumb luck, and I really admire that. Additionally, he's funny and his lectures are engaging. I highly, highly, highly suggest taking Professor Andrews for PIC 10A.

Let’s list some pros
-He puts A LOT of effort to help his students learn and do well; even staying 30min-1hr after his office hours end.
-His lectures are clear and nicely paced. The order that concepts are presented is natural too.
-The material he provides guides you to think how to approach the homework problems and build solutions step by step.
-He recognizes genuine effort.
-Overall, Andrews is one of the best professors I’ve had. His class was one of the nicest classes I've taken.

And some tips:
-GO TO OFFICE HOURS.
-Yes, one assignment did cause me a lot of stress. Don’t stress trying to fix bugs, but ask questions that will improve your understanding of the problem, and then looking over bugs can become easier.

Taking this class with Michael was a great experience. He uses Xcode during class, which is super helpful for someone who is a Mac user as I am sure many of you are. He posts videos teaching you how to use Xcode/VS which is definitely something that he did not have to do, but he does! He also holds plenty of office hours and is very helpful through email.

The class itself is a hit or miss for many. For those who have coded, it may be much easier for you but many, including myself, struggled with the final hw's (about 20 hours spent on hw6). The class may just be easy for you as well, it depends. Overall, it is a decent class for beginners, you just have to put in the work and be patient.

Some tips that I believe would have helped me get an A:

- Go to lecture and LISTEN TO EVERYTHING HE SAYS AND WRITES DOWN. His definitions and drawings will help you tremendously during the midterm and final. He does these things for a reason. Review everything.
- Double/triple check your hw before submission. There may be something that your code is not able to do or you may even have some extraneous bracket which will prevent your code from running.

NOT FRIENDLY for beginners.
His homework allows no mistakes. Considering the homework is 80% of the final grade, and only achieving above 95% will give you an A, this class is the worst. No homework grade would be dropped. He is the harshest grader I have ever seen. DO NOT take this class. (Especially for summer session)

This is a Covid quarter review. This professor is always extremely clear. I enjoyed the class and really liked the content. His tests were not too hard. Homework was challenging and it took me some time to finish it. At the same time, it was very rewarding when completed. I would recommend taking PIC 10A with this professor

Michael is your go-to for PIC 10 A. The workload is definitely not light but it helps you to fully master the basics of C++ and programming in general. The professor is kind, often funny, yet principled in terms of grading and adjusting policies. As someone who had zero coding experience before, I feel extremely grateful to be in this class and 10/10 would take it again.

TAKE THIS MAN!!!!!!!! I’m new to coding and had no prior knowledge at all and he was so helpful and thorough. The homework’s did cause me some stress especially the ones at the end but I would just go to his office hours and he would help so much - even staying after for 45 minutes each time to explain concepts more clearly. He genuinely seemed so knowledgeable in the work not like some teachers who are just copying textbook stuff. He was so nice and funny and always responds to your emails. I wish I had him in person just to get to know him but even over zoom he is the first professor I’ve had who I think I had a genuine relationship with almost like highschool again where they knew my name and could recognize you. I could see why his tests might be tough if it wasn’t online but I’m sure if you studied you would be fine. Also I got by on a lot of the beginning homework’s by creating my own mathematical ways to complete questions Rather than a more code-based way. Honestly no real complaints. He also was very forgiving and openly addressed his thoughts and gave proper recognition and leniency towards the corona situation along with the BLM protests. What a guy, I mean what a guy.

As someone who has no idea of c++ ahead of time, the class is hard for me. It's not the false of this class but the false of c++. He is a nice and funny guy and actually tries to help students. The homework was harder than the test, so try them hard. The test was fair and nothing surprising. This grade was all I could do. Wish that I could have done better, but really learned a lot.