So a little background info: I had Wittman for 10A and 10B. I thought he was pretty easy in 10A. 10B is a whole different game. The homeworks took WAYYY longer. In 10A he likes to feed the code for the harder programs; in 10B he gives you maybe a little bit of the code and makes you do tons of changes for the homework. I would spend literally hours just trying to get my programs to compile because it was just harder in general. Extra credit? Forget about it; almost always not worth it. I remember I finished my homework two days early and decided I would try the extra credit and ended up spending like six hours trying to earn one more point -_-. (Also it's a good idea if you really want to try the extra credit to backup your cpp file after you get it running so you can abandon the project if you mess it up :-| But I hear I'm the only one who didn't already know this)

Don't expect any curves either. His exams are not that hard and he has so much material to practice with that the medians are something like 90% (I think one was 43/50 and one was 47/50...). I also get the vibe that the better the class does on the first two midterms the harder the final is.. because this quarter his final was a bit of a killer. Like with all your classes just make sure you follow the directions on the exam very carefully because it's really annoying to have to redo some of the questions.

Wittman is literally the best possible teacher you could have for this class; he's patient, articulate, organized, and amusing. He really puts a lot of effort in to make sure that students learn the material, and I think you should definitely take Wittman if you have to take the class at all.

great prof. lectures easy to follow. hw not too hard. best thing is he actually gives enough time to complete tests, even though it doesnt seem like its enough while youre studying for them.

I actually took Math 3A with Wittman, but it's not an option in this dropdown list. I don't know why he randomly taught Math 3A during Fall quarter, but I'm glad he did. For a math class, it was pretty chill and pretty easy. Lower midterm gets dropped. You get one free HW that you don't have to do. As a professor, Wittman is awkward in an endearing way. His tests always contain Lord of the Rings references, and he tends to make awkward jokes. My mistakes, as someone who had already taken AP Calculus BC in high school, were underestimating the material and not studying hard enough. Instead of an A-, like I was aiming for, I got a B+ because I got lazy! Learn from my unfortunate mistake!

Professor Wittman is a pretty good teacher. His lectures are well organized and have helpful examples related to the tests and homework. The homework is really important in learning the material because it forces you to apply what new topics were covered. Homework is worth 40% of your grade and its very easy to get 100% on each on and over 100% if you do the extra credit. The midterms are each worth 15% and the final is worth 30%. You have plenty of time on the tests. To do well on them, do all the practice tests. He puts up 3 past tests and answer keys for each midterm and test. I highly recommend taking him, especially if you enjoy Lord of the Rings, which all his lectures and homeworks are themed.

wittman is a very good-hearted individual. if you can get past the fact that he is absolutely in love with lord of the rings and everything that you do will somehow relate to gandalf or frodo, you'll like and enjoy the class. he tells you what types of questions/what he expects you to be able to do for the finals and midterms. as long as you do well on all the homeworks, that can propel you to where you want to go in that class.

By far one of the nicest professors I've ever had. Wittman is such a great guy. He's that typical really nice and funny nerdy guy that you can't help but love. He makes the lectures funny and simplified. This was the first computer course I've ever taken, and he presented it in a way that just about anyone could really understand. Every homework assignment was related to Lord of the Rings, and included "background stories" for the code. The homework took me a lot of time to finish, so unless you've taken a C++ class before, you shouldn't wait until the last minute to work on it.

It's very obvious that he really is concerned on whether the students understand or not. He's not snobby or rude about answering any questions. When he's in the PIC lab, he'll help you out with your homework.

There's two midterms and a final. For all three of the tests, he has like, 5 previous tests (with solutions) on his website, so you basically know exactly what kind of questions are going to be on them. His lectures are all online as well, so honestly, you could easily get an A without going to class.

So definitely take Wittman if you have the option.

Ultra ultra ultra organized professor. He always comes to class on time, starts exactly on time, and ends on time. He's a pretty good lecturer and has pretty useful slides.

A very cool tool he gives you is the course website: there are tons of old exams, all his lecture notes, additional notes from the book, etc. Lots of material to use to study with for sure. I've noticed that it seems like every time he teaches the class, the exams get a little harder though. So even though I was able to breeze through all his practice exams I still had a lot of difficulty when it came to the real deal. So best advice to do well in the class is to study absolutely everything, even if it hadn't come up in previous years on the midterm.

Wittman himself is a very nice guy. I would recommend taking PIC10A with him if you can.

fall2009

best advices (assuming you've little knowledge of c++):
-DON'T MISS LECTURES. although he provides lecture notes which you can just look at home, he thoroughly explains concepts and examples (which aren't shown on the slidenotes) in class
-DO YOUR HOMEWORK. really this is the best way for you to learn C++, by practicing and applying the concepts he teaches you. if you copy homework then you're gonna be screwed for midterms and the final.

overall, great teacher and friendly guy who's enthusiastic about teaching C++ and making sure his students pass and learn. tests are fair. he gives plenty of past exams for you to practice.

He is SO organized!! His lecture slides are always prepared and he really lectures (and not just reads off the slides like so many other professors). He posts past exams, handouts, and practice tests all in advance for your covenience. I would really advise students start the homework EARLY. At least read it over on Sunday night just to see what is expected. Because this is an introductory clas, some people mighgt find it easy, but be mindful that the average is quite high and almost all students receieve perfect scores on the homeworks. Doing the past exams is a PERFECT way to prepare for his exams. Although he posts his lecture slides, I would advise you to attend lectures because he may show examples by 'free-styling' codes on visual studios (not included in slides) and these are helpful for hw & test problems. Lastly, don't go to the computer lab Thursday evenings!! The professor is probably bogged down with 374823087 other students to help!

he is great
take him if u have to take pic
he puts everything on his powerpoints
its good that you read it over at the end of each week
he helps with any stupid question you may have
he has a lot of old midterms and stuff online, so if u look over them and get them
you'll do good on the tests
and there are always extra credits on the homeworks that you can do =]