Byron Becker - University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Professor: Byron Becker

Department: Computer Science

College: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Excellent lecturer. The course content was quite dry, which isn't his fault, but his explanations are very clear. He is willing to your questions during lecture, right after the lecture or during office hours. Moves through the content at a good pace and does his best to make the lecture interesting.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great prof. Funny, accessible, explains things clearly, answers questions fully and in detail.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures very engaging with solid worked examples. Took time to answer questions in class and was very approachable and helpful during office hours

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Worst quality of exams I had at UW.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Explains concepts clearly,willing to answer questions. Only problem is assignments are very time consuming & course notes aren't helpful for it. This course has always been text heavy (lot of psychology and a little anatomy but it's UI, what else do you expect?) so as long as you know the slides and have common sense, exams aren't hard.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

well, I would say that slides are not reader friendly even though this course talks much about users' feelings. Titles aligns vertically. It sucks!!! I feel like reading about psychology and biology instead of computer science... assignments are interesting and really cost much time.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

his slides has nothing to do with the assignments and be prepared to remember every single words on the slides for the exams. good thing is you can skip all the lectures because he's a slides reader.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Tough grader? More like bad test maker! The lectures were pretty much a waste of time. Assignments are about the only thing where you will learn stuff in this course. The exam questions are "list the 5 principles of ___" or "what are cones and rods?". That's the kind of exams you will be getting, so be prepared to memorize every word on the slides!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you looked at his CV, he is a lecturer since 1991. Now he is still a lecturer. If you know what I mean, skip him if possible.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Awesome prof, very clear, always available after class. The assignments were cool, I think I benefited from them a lot. In addition to coding some portion was about theory of design as well, and he even addressed problems in design like gender, age stereotyping etc without any bias, in other words: he's a true gentleman!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Most professors at UW try to give us a grade for assignment and exam as high as possible, however, this guy try to give student a grade as low as possible.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Spoke clearly in different tones. Lectures were very entertaining. Lecture slides were concise and informative. The prof was very enthusiastic and he motivated students to really think in class. Cared about students very much. Great demos. Put a lot of effort into making the course as good as possible. Need to manage time better though.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This course is interesting and helpful. But I would suggest you to take it with other professor. If you insist to take it with him, get ready to receive a low grade.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Awesome prof. Well organized course, interesting content, very practical assignments. Straightforward but helpful in class, on discussion board or via email. Exams focused mostly on theory (which was ok, since it was barely tested on assignments). Very fair marking of exams and assignments - provided explanations wherever possible.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Good prof. Exams are a bit unusual (focus more on the theory side, whereas the assignments are almost exclusively practical). Active on the message board, and available outside of class. Interesting lectures as well. The course was a lot of work but was marked fairly and explained properly.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Good prof! This man knows his stuff. Very organized and very approachable. He is also good at communicating.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CS349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Course is ill-structured. Exams are unfair -- he asks about in class details rather than generic concepts. Need to memorize slides to do well in exams. Assignments take huge effort and are not related to exams.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Slide reader... And he looks very strict. However, enthusiastic.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

i had to drop down from this course after a month, but i was really sad about it because byron was awesome! willing to spend an hour helping me.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CS135
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very enthusiastic teacher,he will help you is you go to him during office hours. He helps on the newsgroup and if you contact him via email. Not very good board writing practice, but is very clear when talking. My favorite CS 135 and 136 teacher.