Dan Watson - Utah State University, Logan, UT

Professor: Dan Watson

Department: Computer Science

College: Utah State University, Logan, UT

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS2810
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dan Watson loves computer science and wants to make you love computer science too. He brings passion into every lecture and will make sure every student understands the material. I marked that his class was easy not because of an easy subject matter, but because he taught it so well that the material became second nature.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS2810
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Sometimes we get up to like 10+ hours of homework a week, but generally he keeps it under 5 or so, which isn't bad. Textbook is basically useless for 2810, you will definitely have better luck googling if you have questions. Dan is a good guy and has lots of office hours.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS2810
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

A very engaging lecturer for what could very easily be dry material. Will try and race ahead in the material unless students ask a lot of questions in class. Just ask lots of questions and read the textbook and you'll be okay.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Watson is hilarious! However, he looks for any excuse to speed ahead of material. This is supposed to be an introduction to Computer Science, spending time on the basics and building foundations. Instead we sped past the basics and went right into the "fun stuff". I feel lost and can't complete the homework by myself.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CS1410
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dan is the best! He makes coding fun and does a good job of explaining the concepts. I would almost be willing to switch my major to computer science if he taught all of the classes.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dan is hotter than two goats in a pepper patch! Text book wasn't really needed. Dan taught by coding in class, and making it all available to everyone on Google Drive. If you do poor on the test it's your own fault. He assigns mini programming challenges to do every week that are not turned in. The test questions are almost verbatim.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Dan Watson does a great job of explaining C++! Class was extremely helpful, as his lectures were very clear. Homework really made you think, and could take some time. His test were very easy, as long as you understood the homework. If you go to class, the textbook is not needed.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Watson was a great teacher this semester! This was my first computer science class, and while I'm still not sure what my degree will be, this class definitely impacted my decision making. The assignments were way over-powered compared the tests, though. Not points-wise, but difficulty. Tests: easy. Assignments: hard. Really no middle-ground

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Amazing guy, hilarious too. Co-requisite lab is where you learn unless you read the book. Class is demonstration of code and teaching how to do the assignments. Assignments are challenging but VERY rewarding. Tests aren't bad at all. Gets you very excited about programming and is very understanding. One of my favorite profs. Assignments weed out.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I thought this class was fantastic - just know you'll spend a lot of time on the homework. I was spending 5-20 hours each week on assignments and such. Watson is incredibly funny and his lectures are engaging. You will do well in this class as long as you do the programming challenges and read from the textbook.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I really enjoyed the class. The assignments are really fun and interesting and Dan Watson has a good way of making them seem relatable. The book is really useful and is probably the most well-written test I have ever bough.. The lectures are great but I probably learned more from the book. Don't skip the lecture though, they have vital info.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Read the book, do the programming challenges, attend class, expect an A

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS3000
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

He's probably a great teacher when he cares about the class, but Undergraduate Seminar was the easiest and most pointless class ever!!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dan is a very fun teacher and is very funny throughout class. Make sure you make it to class and pay good attention or you'll probably be a bit confused when you have to do the assignments. He usually talks about and explains the parts of the assignments that you're not going to understand how to do just by reading the book.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Take CS1400 from Dan. He's by far the best teacher of the class. Definitely the easiest too. If you're new to programming (like me), then the first few weeks are overwhelming because it feels like it's aimed at those who know what's going on. Do all the programming challenges, do the readings, and you'll be fine. HW is WAY harder than the tests.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great professor,humorous and fair with grading. A few of the assignments were fairly tough however this was probably due to my lack of previous experience with c++.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He is fairly humorous, explains the material really well(at least most of the time), and is very willing to work with you personally with issues.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dan is a really fun teacher, and for all those who said he was "hard to learn from" just save yourself the time and trouble, give up, and go into social work or gender studies. Later CS classes will probably make you jump off Old Main head first. All CS teachers dive into hard material to weed out those who can't hack it. ++recorded lectures :))

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CS1400
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Dan is the man. Fun class, although if have no concepts of how procedural programming and logic works, you might have a tough time. Lectures are always fun. Dan is a little disorganized, but it didn't really matter in the end. CS1400 from him got me really excited about CS.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: 1400
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

If you have no experience with programming then you will have to read a lot. He skips way ahead and makes the homework hard so it's not "boring." Really nice guy and good atmosphere. Just wish he would have spent more time on the basics to build a foundation instead of jumping into harder things.