Dan Ross - Folsom Lake College

Professor: Dan Ross

Department: TBD

College: Folsom Lake College

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Took him during COVID. I think he's better at teaching in a physical classroom than online but in the end he will teach you the basics of data structures. There was some coding (C/C++) involved but it wasn't object oriented heavy. He provided a textbook that were his class notes. There was an assignment due each week and only one exam, the final.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CISC310
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

You know ahead of time what is expected of you so you can prepare ahead. Bombed a quiz and redid it and he accepted the better grade! Also wasn't able to download a program for an assignment and offered me a writing assignment instead. DOES NOT care about your writing format. Just show him that you're doing the work and you should be fine. Easy A

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CISP440
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Hw 60% of grade, Final 30%, participation 10%. Weekly homework consists of conceptual problems in the book he provides, then the next week will be its implementation via C. His helper code is messy, but just finish the work the easy way without revamping all of it. He seems to grade easily, so you only get the most from this class as you put out

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Gave us way more work than was necessary to understand the concepts. Made use do a 51 level recursion by hand. Not fun. Understood the concept by recursion 10. 51 was just too much.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENGR312
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Ross had some issues with respond to people's emails at the beginning of the semester, but he seems to be on top of things now. This class is REALLY easy. His HW is just completion based. He has his own website, so that takes a bit of adjusting to. Class is fun, you learn stuff, easy A.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Round time for answering emails is 5+ days. The students created a discord to try to figure it out what we are supposed to do. No one has any idea. His emails when he does respond are short and lack substance and give no guidance as to what we are doing. None of us know our grade. He doesn't use Canvas, he uses his own website.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ENGR312
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Sometimes it seems like he is teaching everything for the first time even when he's been a prof for like 20 years. Very nice guy. For drawing and design just show up. Very fun class if you're creative.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CISP440
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are all over the place, although he has started writing out his notes and posting them online which has been a godsend. But he makes you print out your program code on a sheet of paper with a screenshot of the console output which is beyond stupid

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CISP440
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Seriously he does not care! Lectures make no sense and he doesn't use text book. He is never in his office hours. You have been warned.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Awesome Professor, very instructional lectures, homework takes a bit of time but you learn lots. Also, an extremely underrated sense of humor!! D

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CISP360
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

UC Davis Grad, waited til after grad to give review. Turns out D. Ross is THE BEST professor I've ever had. Though we didn't quite see eye-to-eye, so much that I almost dropped his class, I ended up taking 3 courses with him (CISP 360/430/440). Without a doubt, I got a 3.7GPA at Davis b/c of D. Ross and his courses. He will make you a better coder!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Homework is basic but time-consuming.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Nice easy going guy. Lots of hw, but it was pretty fun. Gives freedom to do things your way, just put the effort and care that goes a long way with him. I learned a lot in this class. Book was waste of $$ use his e-notes and other resources. I plan to take him for cisp430. Lots of learning on your own, but pretty common for cs classes in general.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CISP430CISP440
• 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:

His assignments were great for learning the concepts. He has his own "textbooks" so no need to buy one unless want extra material. He's not a tough grader but you still have to work for a good grade. Remember it's your duty to learn; all those mean comments about him shouldn't be there. Be a self-learner and you'll succeed later. Has funny jokes.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Talks about how unmotivated he is, how he should of retired years ago, or how to become a lion tamer. We get out of class early every lecture, Ross will not teach you or prepare you for your upper division CS courses. All he has going for him is he is an easy A because he doesn't care about grading. Avoid him if you want to learn or be inspired.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CISC310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

An absurd amount of homework. Be prepared to spend at least 10 hrs a week on homework. He took what should be a fun subject and turned it into a straight grind. Also doesn't use Canvas for an online class. He uses his own website that looks like it was made in 1990. You have to email him your assignments instead of uploading them.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CISC310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The guy waits till 10pm on monday the week classes start to give you any information about the class just to find out the wrong edition of the required text book is listed on the flc website. Might be a good in class professor but you might as well drop the online class if you want to have time to enjoy your life.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CISP430
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Take him if you want to learn and get an easy A. All you have to do is show up to class and pay attention to his lectures. This class was really enjoyable because he has a good sense of humor and likes to tell interesting stories. His review for the final prepared me well for the final exam. I am going to take him again for Discrete Structures.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CISP440
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Ross is the best prof. you can ever have for computer science classes. His teachings cover a lot of topics, and most of them are comparable to upper level courses at CSU and UC. A lot of homework, but you learn a lot

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CISP440
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

All of Ross's classes are easy. He clearly explains the material and goes over the code that we need to use on our homework. He even provides comments in the code to help us understand what is going on. He also lets us use notes on his tests. As long as you do all the HW, you should get an A.