Bernd Hamann - University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Professor: Bernd Hamann

Department: Computer Science

College: University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECS175
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Bernd is one of the coolest professors at UCD, BUT take this class ONLY if you are passionate about graphics. Homework assignments are very time-consuming and challenging. Plus side is he told us question by question what was going to be on the final. He also curves the final grade. P.S he is very charismatic, easygoing and funny.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECS178
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

ECS178 was the most amazing and relaxed class I've taken. I only showed up for the very first day of lecture and passed this class with an A+. Grades were 5 projects only with the 5th one optional and extra credit (up to 25% EC). No final, also has online lectures from previous years. Get ready to learn how to draw curves !!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECS175
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Programming assignments are not as bad as people say. More implementation rather than problem solving. Lots of debugging your own code and consideration of error cases. Lectures are clear and his drawings are works of art.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Professor is a horrible lecturer, and the course is useless. At times there would be 20 people in a lecture hall meant for 300. You can get a full std dev below the mean on both exams, fail every program, and fail every written homework and still pass with a C. Course is extremely easy but you will learn absolutely nothing. Waste time and money.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

There is no need to attend classes if you read the book. The midterm exam was long since it requests at least 3 self-written functions, which require time to strategize and think. Written homework are helpful and representatives of the chapter material. Programming HW are fair, but a little bit challenging because he provides no help on them.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very very poor, like others said

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

No matter what you guys think, I do not like the class. Both him and TA seldom reply to email, and there are too many updates to programs very near to the deadline. Avoid his class, and try to learn by yourself.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Worst lectures ever.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECS175
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

All you need to do is go to class, pay attention, and take notes. The programming assignments are hard, but everything you need is from his notes. Midterm and final is completely based off of his lectures, and they're both open notebook. The book is definitely not needed. Enthusiastic and his lectures are very easy to understand.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

If you want to fail ECS 40 and 60 and change out of the CSCSE majors then Hamann is the guy to take for ECS 30. You could learn more in 30 minutes Googling at home than in the entire 10 weeks of the course with Hamann. You spend 3 weeks in the class learning how to draw an ice cream cone and a pumpkin for the exam... Not even kidding. AVOID.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

If you are a CS major and you take this class, you will fail ECS 40 and 60 because you will learn literally nothing. Hamann teaches some obsolete graphics libraries from 1995 instead of teaching you real C programming. You learn nothing of use. In class he is extremely disrespectful to students. Easily the worst professor I have ever had at UCD.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Bernd, despite being nice, made me HATE programming. Regardless of starting 30 with experience or not, this class doesn't really help. Taught a different language and doesn't teach basics of standard C. Screwed for 40. Avoid if possible; minimally beneficial.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures were dull. He used handwritten notes, and never used a computer in class. At no point did I have a good idea what my grade was. Tests contained serious errors. The textbook was awful. There was a strong emphasis on "graphics" and the use of non-standard libraries. I feel as though my time was wasted here.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He has never taught ECS30 before at least to my knowledge. I asked him a question once and he brushed me off. He uses an outdated textbook and non-standard libraries that no modern programmer uses. If I hadn't had good, previous C experience I would not have understood a single thing. TA's do all the work. Very disorganized. Irrelevant text. Avoid.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Hamann is a very bad lecturer. Takes around a month for him to grade homework. A lot of graphics and very little real programming. Terrible professor.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This Class was a joke. Rock Hall is filled with at most 30 students during a lecture out of 200+ students. Lectures straight off of book and did not teach you how to program. he used roberts book (OLD book) and told us not to use scant() in C. Also hard to hear him say anything during lecture and exam days. Avoid!!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Honestly I could rant and rant and rant about this guy because he clearly didn't care about ecs 30 or he was too busy or something but this class was the single worst academic experience of my life. Avoid, at least for ecs 30

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

No correlation at all between the book and homework. Lecture material was copied word for word out of the book. Book was very outdated and riddled with mistakes. Forced us to the E Roberts libraries for everything in this class. He said on the first day you are not allowed to program in C. Overall a nightmare. Would not recommend to anyone.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

For ECS 30, he has poor reviews due to the fact that he teaches strictly out of the book. He mentioned this on the first day of class that it would be upsetting but just the simple truth that he is forced to teach out of the book. That being said, I do not recommend this teacher for ECS 30, it did not seem like we learned much pertaining to C

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I don't leave reviews but Hamann is the worst professor I have had at Davis. He is very rude, arrogant, and disrespectful to students. Releases homework prompts 3 days before it is due. Makes you program in a language called Roberts, not C. He will make you HATE programming. I'd rather graduate a year late than take another class with him.