can anyone tell me about CMPT 275?

EricJ

i've been trying to get this course out of the way for a while but it keeps being offered at really awkward times.
I might just tough it out and take it in Spring with Herbert Tsang. (5:30-8:30 in burnaby)

I've heard my share of negative things about this course and wouldn't mind to know what to expect! do share

bufli

FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST (OR WHOM EVER YOU VALUE) DO NOT TAKE IT WITH HERBERT TSANG

EDIT:
and here is why
first check out reviews on rate my prof
to explain all the people who gave him positive feedback: these are students who thought the technology and projects they were doing are cool and so ignored the big picture and the profs teaching ability

herbert reads everything from his slides (which are from the textbook or other profs)
he picks on people and tries to make them look like idiots
he contradicts himself (and gets really pissed off when u call him out for it)
he wastes time in class when he realizes his notes aren't going to last the full hour (starts putting students on the spot by asking them random unrelated questions)
and he takes advantage of his students to increase his professional reputation

now to explain that last point
he sets requirements for students like "create an application that does not already exist" now this may seem fine and dandy but for some classes the work load is too much. I've had issues with him in one of his classes with my ideas which he rudely turned down because "its already been done" and would provide no further assistance in developing an idea. his advice is "keep your eyes open" thats the best help he could give
oh and he's REALLY picky on grammar and English (even though he can't speak it properly himself)

i would recommend taking the class with Janice Regan. shes not the best prof but the class has structure and order
she teaches you everything u need for that class (other then java) but she does provide all the tools and tutorials to help you get through.
you learn (if u already haven't) how to conduct your meetings, manage your code and work as an efficient team
and even if u bomb the midterm shes gonna let u make up for it on final. its a hard class with her and plenty of work BUT at least there is structure and its clear and concise what needs to be done.

EricJ

alright, I have a feeling i am going to delay this course yet another semester!

bufli

the other advice i can give you is take the class with people you know are reliable

justinbh2

Interesting, Janice used to be a lecturer at BCIT and some of my friends had her for our ADA 95 course.

Wonder how she's doing at SFU?

More on topic however, i heard they do iPhone dev for 275. That sounds interesting even if the prof suffers from douchebag syndrome. I guess since C is a subset of objective c there is not much of a learning curve. Has anyone done the iPhone app version of this course. If so, which kind of apps were created? Anything earth shattering?

combray

I'm taking 275 right now with Herbert.

I had heard it was quite a difficult course due to workload but it has been fairly low in this regard compared to my expectations (and I've been doing the majority of the work for my group, oh so happily).

It's true that Herbert almost entirely goes from slides which take their content from the textbook. You don't really need to go to class if you study the text sufficiently.
There is a lot of wasted time in the class.
Certainly not a stellar teacher, but I'm sure I've had worse and probably will have worse again.

But then again, I feel this way (i.e. waste of time) about practically every class I take. It is exceptionally true for this course however.

I haven't seen him pick on or be rude to students in class, and I did attend nearly every lecture. At least not anything nasty or what I would call putting on the spot.

The marks on assignments & midterms seemed to be rather high so maybe we have an easier marking TA than other semesters have had.

And before you say I like the project / tech and thus why I am not so negative about Herbert/the course: I fucking loathe iPhone and macs in general and the project we decided on is inane bullshit that is good for nothing. I think forcing us to use this stuff is a complete insult when there are open alternatives.

However: I would say you certainly need at least one person in the group competent at programming. Though taking with people you know are reliable wouldn't really save you as we had randomly assigned groups...

I don't really come to university to learn though. I want my piece of paper!

In regards to iPhone app questions:
Our only requirement as to what we could make was that it be related in some way to "Mobile Learning" and that it require "lots of coding" or some such.

As to what people did off the top of my head there was: side scrolling game, identify countries on a map app, disassemble various pieces of equipment via pictures? app, course planning app, memory card app, music composition app, element/chemistry identification app

a bunch more but I can't remember em all. Mostly all bullshit but if you had a good idea or not didn't really matter. I'm surprised to hear about that re: app that doesn't exist. Not really feasible these days. And why would you want to probably hand over the credit to the university/him if you had a decent original idea ;)

Another thing to note was there was a partnership with a business class this semester in which a small number of groups partnered up with groups in the business class with the chance to win (I believe) $1000 split between all the people for whatever group was chosen winner.