XHTML, CSS, some general knowledge about how the web works, Python and CGI. If you take CMPT120 before taking 165, you'll easily pull off an A+. However, it's completely irrelevant to computing science. A good GPA booster though.
There are a millllllllllion topics on this course, do a search.
This topic is done...repeatedly...and dug into the ground.
Regardless of what agentbob says about being a 'GPA Booster', it's not entirely true. It depends: Who is teaching it, Is it DE or in person?
I had an awful experience in this class and ended up with a B-. My friend with nearly the same level of experience got 95% in the class, taught by someone else. This course can be easy / hard. Use ratemyprofessors.com to figure it out.
All the CMPT majors will come in here telling you this class is easy as pie, but it really depends. All I'm going to say, is do not take this with Greg Baker, by Distance Ed.
Agentbob;35743 said:
XHTML, CSS, some general knowledge about how the web works, Python and CGI. If you take CMPT120 before taking 165, you'll easily pull off an A+. However, it's completely irrelevant to computing science. A good GPA booster though.
Here are some choice quotes from ratemyprofessors for Greg Baker:
"WAY TOO DIFFICULT. not at all suitable for students with no background in programming. i took this course online and the forums would be filled with confused students. assignments took me at least a day to complete and are not worth that many marks. dont recommend taking this course AT ALL."
"THIS COURSE IS NOT A GPA BOOSTER. The apparent struggle and despair on webCT "cafe" reveals clarity of material and helpfulness the TA's. Cheatsheets for exams will help for 1 question...there will be questions you have no clue about. And writing perfect CSS/HTML on exams for full marks??? In the real world, we use validators."
"WOW! Whatever you do, DO NOT take this course through distance education. First half alright, second half brutal. You get no help, questions that are answered through email, a week later are vague. Take this course on campus, or avoid taking it."
"envelope unlike what the course description said, this course is NOT suitable for non-cmptsci majors with no programming background. the first half was fine (a breeze even)...but once the programming stuff kicks in, ur on ur own. prog asgnments were hard considering it was a dist.ed class...if ur gonna take 165, i suggest the on-campus lecture section"
"Similar to another student said, this was the worst class I have taken at SFU. The TA's were the ones that seemed to be teaching the course! Even at that, the TA's and the prof were very condescending and quite often there was lots of chatter between the students for help. The prof always asked us to email the TA's for help and not him. HORRIBLE."
"The WORST class i've taken at SFU. I have programming background and this course was unreal for a first year programming course. There was no help from the prof or TAs, I had to rely on other students to help me out. Midterm and Final were extremely hard, concentrates on the tiniest details in the texts which are both 250 pages of tiny writing."
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Anyway, I always have to reply to these topics, because how surprised I was. I only took this course because it was supposedly a GPA booster, and it was just awful, with Greg Baker anyway...my warning to you all
horrible i took it just in the summer (distance ed) TA was useless. prof had an attitude problem. first half was CSS and HTML and easy as pie worth like.. 30% 2nd half was python worth 70% but its impossible to learn python from just the textbook
NOT GPA BOOSTER (unless you work SUPER hard or that you know python / took cmpt 120 before)
horrible i took it just in the summer (distance ed) TA was useless. prof had an attitude problem. first half was CSS and HTML and easy as pie worth like.. 30% 2nd half was python worth 70% but its impossible to learn python from just the textbook
NOT GPA BOOSTER (unless you work SUPER hard or that you know python / took cmpt 120 before)
I thought the same as you. But then I actually read the textbook on my way to school during the day of the exam, and I got through the python section pretty darn easily.
So yeah. Cmpt 165 is really hard, unless you read the textbooks. Then it's fucking easy.
I thought the same as you. But then I actually read the textbook on my way to school during the day of the exam, and I got through the python section pretty darn easily.
So yeah. Cmpt 165 is really hard, unless you read the textbooks. Then it's fucking easy.
i pretty much gave up on it i even went to find the TA after the mt she didnt know a single thing her rebuttal: "I'll ask Steve and email you regarding your question"
You don't need background knowledge and you do not need friends that know programming. It's an intro course that teaches extremely basic programming.
General consensus is, if you're in the Faculty of Arts, do not take this course because Arts students apparently suck at logic. Otherwise, it's a good GPA booster.
Its not even not understanding logic myname, it was for me, Greg Baker not even teaching the commands within python. I understood SOME commands within python quite well, conditionals were super easy.
It's not a GPA booster if it only helps people withone one faculty, which I don't believe either. I spoke to a few people before the final, a few of who were in arts a few of who were in sciences and they also agreed.
People need to learn that the "GPA Booster" is a logical fallacy, there is no such thing. It assumes that the class is taught the same way, by every professor, and that everyone taking it has the same skill level. It's not a word that should be tossed around. I've gotten A's in classes I thought were easy, yet the curve was standard and some people did good and some did bad. I don't go posting that PSYC 280 teaches very standard biological concepts because I got an A in it. (one quarter of the people who took this class failed it).
I had it with Dr. Popowich and had to skive off the last assignment because it was turning into such a PITA. I still walked out with an A-, but that was because I did everything else well. Also, I took the in-lecture part, not the Distance Ed part.
I had a bit of an unfair advantage because I already knew some HTML, and had at that point a rather intimate understanding of basic programming fundamentals, like relational operators, programming structure and so on.
You don't need background knowledge and you do not need friends that know programming. It's an intro course that teaches extremely basic programming.
General consensus is, if you're in the Faculty of Arts, do not take this course because Arts students apparently suck at logic. Otherwise, it's a good GPA booster.
excuse me but im not in the faculty of arts you cant just blame students in arts python is just hard - ask anyone that took DE the past semester and i did sit in for popwich's class during the spring semester and it was better so i recommend anyone that wants to do cmpt 165 take it on campus - it's easier to ask prof questions anyways
I did well in the course, but I can't say it was super easy. I wouldn't recommend it as a GPA booster unless you already know HTML and some basic programming.
If you have background knowledge on the material, then duh, it will a breeze. But if you're new at it, make sure the prof is helpful or you'll seriously struggle in the course.
General consensus is, if you're in the Faculty of Arts, do not take this course because Arts students apparently suck at logic. Otherwise, it's a good GPA booster.
Blanket statements are really not logically useful-- for someone who is probably not in the Arts you should know that?
Anyway, I would say the only reason some arts students do poorly in science classes sometimes is because of the difference in study habits. I got hit hard, when I realized your study methods need to change.
For example, I normally cram for MANY MANY hours before an exam. I found in math and science classes it was just better to split that out over 5 week days, so I could memorize it long term. As opposed to immersing myself deepy in a concept or subject before an assignment.
Can't speak for her 165 class specifically, but she's a good prof that will make sure you do well if you want to do well. She remembers people's names and seems genuinely interested in teaching.
The class probably won't be curved because it's not difficult. Expect a lot of people to get over 90%.
If Greg Baker is still teaching this course, I feel for those whom are struggling under his direction. I think one of the reviews above were written by me a few years ago. I really really stuggled with the Python stuff and he did nothing to help me. Unfortunately it looks like others suffered under him as well.
Comments
Regardless of what agentbob says about being a 'GPA Booster', it's not entirely true. It depends: Who is teaching it, Is it DE or in person?
I had an awful experience in this class and ended up with a B-. My friend with nearly the same level of experience got 95% in the class, taught by someone else. This course can be easy / hard. Use ratemyprofessors.com to figure it out.
All the CMPT majors will come in here telling you this class is easy as pie, but it really depends. All I'm going to say, is do not take this with Greg Baker, by Distance Ed. Here are some choice quotes from ratemyprofessors for Greg Baker:
"WAY TOO DIFFICULT. not at all suitable for students with no background in programming. i took this course online and the forums would be filled with confused students. assignments took me at least a day to complete and are not worth that many marks. dont recommend taking this course AT ALL."
"THIS COURSE IS NOT A GPA BOOSTER. The apparent struggle and despair on webCT "cafe" reveals clarity of material and helpfulness the TA's. Cheatsheets for exams will help for 1 question...there will be questions you have no clue about. And writing perfect CSS/HTML on exams for full marks??? In the real world, we use validators."
"WOW! Whatever you do, DO NOT take this course through distance education. First half alright, second half brutal. You get no help, questions that are answered through email, a week later are vague. Take this course on campus, or avoid taking it."
"envelope unlike what the course description said, this course is NOT suitable for non-cmptsci majors with no programming background. the first half was fine (a breeze even)...but once the programming stuff kicks in, ur on ur own. prog asgnments were hard considering it was a dist.ed class...if ur gonna take 165, i suggest the on-campus lecture section"
"Similar to another student said, this was the worst class I have taken at SFU. The TA's were the ones that seemed to be teaching the course! Even at that, the TA's and the prof were very condescending and quite often there was lots of chatter between the students for help. The prof always asked us to email the TA's for help and not him. HORRIBLE."
"The WORST class i've taken at SFU. I have programming background and this course was unreal for a first year programming course. There was no help from the prof or TAs, I had to rely on other students to help me out. Midterm and Final were extremely hard, concentrates on the tiniest details in the texts which are both 250 pages of tiny writing."
----------
Anyway, I always have to reply to these topics, because how surprised I was. I only took this course because it was supposedly a GPA booster, and it was just awful, with Greg Baker anyway...my warning to you all
so it is a GPA booster :P
i took it just in the summer (distance ed)
TA was useless.
prof had an attitude problem.
first half was CSS and HTML and easy as pie worth like.. 30%
2nd half was python worth 70%
but its impossible to learn python from just the textbook
NOT GPA BOOSTER (unless you work SUPER hard or that you know python / took cmpt 120 before)
So yeah. Cmpt 165 is really hard, unless you read the textbooks. Then it's fucking easy.
i even went to find the TA after the mt
she didnt know a single thing
her rebuttal: "I'll ask Steve and email you regarding your question"
unless you have background knowledge
or you have frds that know programming
dont take cmpt 165
General consensus is, if you're in the Faculty of Arts, do not take this course because Arts students apparently suck at logic. Otherwise, it's a good GPA booster.
It's not a GPA booster if it only helps people withone one faculty, which I don't believe either. I spoke to a few people before the final, a few of who were in arts a few of who were in sciences and they also agreed.
People need to learn that the "GPA Booster" is a logical fallacy, there is no such thing. It assumes that the class is taught the same way, by every professor, and that everyone taking it has the same skill level. It's not a word that should be tossed around. I've gotten A's in classes I thought were easy, yet the curve was standard and some people did good and some did bad. I don't go posting that PSYC 280 teaches very standard biological concepts because I got an A in it. (one quarter of the people who took this class failed it).
I had a bit of an unfair advantage because I already knew some HTML, and had at that point a rather intimate understanding of basic programming fundamentals, like relational operators, programming structure and so on.
you cant just blame students in arts
python is just hard - ask anyone that took DE the past semester
and i did sit in for popwich's class during the spring semester and it was better
so i recommend anyone that wants to do cmpt 165
take it on campus - it's easier to ask prof questions anyways
If you have background knowledge on the material, then duh, it will a breeze. But if you're new at it, make sure the prof is helpful or you'll seriously struggle in the course.
Anyway, I would say the only reason some arts students do poorly in science classes sometimes is because of the difference in study habits. I got hit hard, when I realized your study methods need to change.
For example, I normally cram for MANY MANY hours before an exam. I found in math and science classes it was just better to split that out over 5 week days, so I could memorize it long term. As opposed to immersing myself deepy in a concept or subject before an assignment.
The class probably won't be curved because it's not difficult. Expect a lot of people to get over 90%.