The class was definitely on the easy side, he does have a problem speaking without alot of pauses, but he is a good professor. He knows the material well and teaches it well and it's very possible to get an A in his class.

Go to class the two weeks before the exams to get the review test, learn everything you can from it. Post on the message board for help with programs. Go to his office hours a lot if you need help, and you'll probably end up with a higher grade for it.

This professor can very easily be one of the worst, but he is actually rather good. He is very boring in lecture, and makes it very hard to follow. In reality though he knows the material very good, and if he can make it a little more interesting more will like him. Very helpfull outside class.

Professor was ok though he lacked some enthusiasm. He knows his stuff but he should use new lecturing strategies every semester.He is an ok professor.

Maybe it was just because I was stuck with McKenna for 114 AND 219, but I liked Esmaili. His programming assignments were FAIR, and not overwhelming like McKenna's. It was kind of hard to awake in his lecture, but it's not hard to do well in his class.

Very helpful outside of class. Shows concern for your learning. He's not boring... Data structures are boring no matter who teaches them. Do your work and you will not have any problems.

Excellent Teaching, HE is VERY CLEAR....Come to lectures and do the homework and you will pass...Exams are easy if you know the material and you ask for help.

As of Fall 2005: Lectures well (attend! take your own notes, it'll help you more than the fill-ins), still only puts fill-in notes online. Homework assignments are fair, first two midterms are more difficult than the final. Helpful, honest, and lighthearted towards students. VERY QUICK grading (final grades online within 4 hours of the exam!)

Overall a fair class. HWs were suitable for the knowledge level we were supposed to have---and semi-interesting. You need to go to class because the fill-in notes will be your own doom if you dont. He made sure to include the minute details from the notes on the exams...and you needed to be @ class to fill in those blanks to know the answer.

Incomplete slides!!!I know that sucks as others are saying. But he is a good professor.Homework assignments are interesting and he is very clear when it comes to specification.Also fellows dont try to compare McKenna and Mr.Esmaili.Both are individuals with different pedagogical styles.But both are good professors in their own way.

I had NO experience with web design before this class, and I learned so much! This class gives you the understanding of HOW html works, which makes it easier in the future when you are using those easy web design programs. One of the most useful classes Ive taken here. Knowing html looks good on a resume too!

The workload is much greater than CSE 114 and much less than CSE 219. The program assignments are much more difficult than the typical simple programs but not excessive. The assignments are enough to teach you what you need to know. Esmaili is ok at teaching but luckily I had a great T.A. Average Professor: Nothing Great Nothing Bad.

Great class to take and learn some C. He has a stile of his own but he's a good guy. Pay attention. Fair grader. You get what you put in so don't complaint if you fail.

The good: Very clear and organized instruction; He offers a lot of opportunities for bonus points. The bad: the tests are incredibly tedious (involving useless specificity)--mostly revolving around syntax, and while its open book, much of the syntactical questions are too obscure to be answered in the text (presidence & strange what if scenarios).

He's ok, the programming assignments are interesting. He's fill in notes work very well if you come to lecture, on the other hand the fact that he only gives one practice test in lecture can be a real pain if you miss that lecture, grades tests fast, grades are up no more then a few hours later.

All those people who gave a bad rating is mad because they never came to class or took it seriously and failed. If you can speak English you can understand him. He tries his hardest for everyone to pass and gives a lot of extracredit. This class is easy if you pay attention,come to class and put in a little effort.

i heard a lot of bad things b4 i took the class. no where near as bad as the reviews. he's a pretty good professor. its probably because ppl get there expecting 114 work. the homeworks take more than a day to finish so ppl complain. tests are hard if you don't try to study, read material, or go to class. but doing two out of three should get a B

I don't know how he is for other classes but for 214 as long as you go, and study it's not that bad. Harder than 214

the materials are not that hard, but his homework assignments took a lot of time to finish, and some of them are confused and complicated, but he teaches with great passion and his office hour does help a lot. nice professor !

his assignments are a bit time consuming but i found that they were fun to do. his exams are a bit tough but you can still do well if you attend ALL his lectures. He's very helpful. Some people may find him a bit too tough!!

Very helpful in office hours. Do the programs and you'll do fine. He remembers people who come to class. Wants everyone to do well.

Good professor. Recommended. Very friendly and helpful.

really good professor.suggested to take this professor.atend classes you will do well..

Great professor. Hard class since it was a lot of work but he tries to make sure everyone does well

He is a very good teacher.

Excellent professor. He's really helpful, spends a lot of time in answering/explaining my questions. Also easy on grading, there's extra credit on each H.W.; you can submit your HWs late and still get them graded (with no penalty). Super-easy exams. Don't really have to attend his lectures, although they are amazing and I would recommend every to.

Easy class if you have good experience in programming.

Great professor if you know what youre doing. He may seem like he doesnt know you, but he remembers your face and knows your name through the homeworks. Real good professor if you pay attention and ask questions.

He isn't too good on keeping you interested with his lectures but his class is still good. Great professor if you know what youre doing. Really helpful but you have to try in his class.

Great Professor, gives plenty of extra credit allowing failing students to pass and other kids to boost their grades up. Really helpful when you have questions and problems.

Great professor, hard class but gave lots of extra credit. Do all your homeworks and spend time on them, best way to learn.

One of nicest and best professors I've ever had. He makes class enjoyable.

Decent class with a good amount of work but lectures are extremely boring. Pay attention to his lectures however hard they are to understand because thats all the tests are about. Gives lots of extra credit to help students.

This was the most fun class I've taken here in Stony!! Prof. Esmaili is really nice and enthusiastic. The text book is useless, don't buy it.

Class was a joke, then again its a 1 credit course so it shouldnt have been that hard. 1 hw which is a 2 page paper and 1 5minute presentation on a topic you choose yourself. The only that is big is attendance since its once a week. For the whole semester you just listen to presentations. Easy A.

Hes a good professor that does care about his students. He doesn't have the best lecture notes, but his homeworks are very easy if you did well in 114. His midterms have a large amount of multiple choice question and they tend to be a little annoying. He grades fairly and posts grades the same day. The final covered mostly Trees and graphs.

I had him for a once-a-week HON seminar. He's a great guy. The class was ridiculously easy. The only project was a short paper and presentation. I got an A- because of attendance (I missed two classes). So you HAVE to show up.

If you pay attention in class, Hw's are a breeze, Midterm is ok, and the final is straight coding so if you don't practice you're screwed. Pay attention, come to class, and ask questions if you don't understand...I emailed him a lot for HW's and he was very helpful.

Easy A. I only have 1 grade that is less than 100, and it was a 99 on the midterm because of a careless mistake. Some effort is required for people that does not know C.

Professor is very helpful and extremely friendly. CSE214 was well taught.

He is the one of the Profs I respect a lot in SBU. Extremely friendly and always smiles. Homeworks are not that tough and are based on lecture notes. Exams were good and gives extra credit too.

The homework is time consuming, and often challenging you on things other than what you're supposed to be learning. But, he offers extra credit and the lectures are helpful, with lots of examples. Go to class, read the book, and you'll be fine.

Very generous professor. He knows how well you know the material. The curve for this class is great, so don't worry so much. The homework are usually easy, you get a lot of time to work on them. I suggest this professor.

Took this as a summer class. You'll learn a lot! Be sure to go to every class!! The classwork is easy, but you have to be meticulous or you'll get points deducted. The first 3 HWs were easy but very time consuming. The last 2 HWs were hell on earth. Exams are open book and pretty easy. Final was tough! Overall very good professor.

Excellent professor and one of the nicest professors I've ever met! If his lectures were any clearer they would be made of glass. Very helpful in office hours and quick to respond to emails. very fair grader, gives challenging, but not impossible exams. Good sense of humor too. looking forward to 214 with him in the fall as well. highly suggested!

Really good Professor. He clearly explains material and is happy to answer any questions you have. Also keeps the lecture interesting and has a sense of humor. I would definitely recommend him

Took over the summer. All I can say is go to EVERY lecture. He's a very good & extremely nice teacher, but he is a stickler about small details when grading. I learned a lot because he forces you to follow along each class w/ exercises. Be prepared for some pretty time consuming assignments. It's a lot of work, but he's a good and fair teacher.

I took his summers courses with his permissions. He is very intellectual and uses his intellectual to help students. He is really a good person. You will know it if you have taken his courses.

I really enjoyed taking this class. I did come with a prior interest and some knowledge, and based on that my only complaint would be that he goes a little slowly for me - but he seems to be right on par with everyone else. No question is a stupid question with him. Would definitely take again.

He is kind and teaches at a moderate pace, but you have to keep up with him or you'll get lost. The homeworks were very time consuming but interesting. Do all his requirements. My problem was the final; too many requirements for the given time. Others and myself couldn't do the last question due to time and it being taught at the very end briefly.

He's honestly a great guy and easily the nicest teacher/professor I've ever had. He does sometimes run through lectures a little to quickly but he's very patient during his office hours and really wants students to pass. He gives tons of extra credit opportunities. His homeworks are long and complicated but you will learn as a result.

Although he may skim through chapters quickly sometimes, he is a great professor. He is pretty clear on most parts. Attendance is not mandatory, but he does give quizzes during class once in a while. The homeworks were pretty challenging to me at first, but I learned a lot and it got easier and easier. He is the only professor who teaches CSE 214.

Great professor. I learned a lot from him about C programming. The material gets progressively harder and that can be a pain to those without any programming experience (I had prior experience), but it's completely worth it. I definitely recommend him.

Honestly he is a great teacher( teacher's job is to teach and not to hand out an A to everyone). Although im barely passing, the class is easily doable. Just never fall behind, if you do then catchup quickly. Exam samples are almost identical and he will not fool you. Hw's are expected 10-15 hr/wk. Overall it is a pleasure learning from emaili.

Lectures are a bit rushed sometimes, but overall he's not a bad professor. Homework assignments, at least the earlier ones, are very time consuming but you learn a lot. Very challenging final. Class is curved based on class ranking. Many extra credit opportunities. He gives 3-4 pop quizzes during lecture.

Best professor in the computer science department. you have to show up to class to do well but all the assignments are hands on and ACTUALLY USEFUL. the stuff applies to the real world and he is an extremely good teacher. he actually cares if you do well. makes subtle little jokes here and there too they're pretty funny. 100% recommend

I took him over the summer, so the long lectures were rough but in the end I got a lot out of the class. It's difficult but you get a lot of experience with different kinds of data structures if you put in effort for the assignments. This class is a good intro to what's expected from you in the CS major, it's difficult but rewarding.

Greatest Professor at Stony Brook. Tests can be tough if you don't study hard enough though. Don't buy the textbook, I didn't even open it and still got a B+ in this class.

Go to class and pay attention not all of the slides are online and some contain errors, some of the info only covered verbally in lecture are in the text. Pay attention, plan your asignments out, do all the practice questions, and do the extra credit. Show him you are trying. As long as you try hard you will survive.

I like professor Esmaili. He is nice and helpful

Excellent Professor; absolutely knows his stuff. With effort, C can be learned; EXCELLENT class for someone with no programming background. But be warned, assignments are time consuming and you must start early. Esmaili is very willing to help out during office hours. Also, you do not learn C in much depth, take CSE 230 for that. Subtle jokes

Many students spread nonsensical rumour about Professor Esamaili. He is one of the best professor in CS dep and knows his stuff.

Nice teaching

Prof. Esmaili is one of the best professors I've had. I am not CSE major and actually took his intermediate programming class without first taking the introductory class however, his clearness and way of teaching had made me learn very fast.

His lectures aren't bad. I went to his office hours a few times and he was pretty helpful. His HW assignments were not difficult at all and you have plenty of time to do them. He gives pop quizs in class so you have to show up.

If you are not familiar with Java, have never used it before, DO NOT take his 214 class. He's always there to help you as well as the TA's. He's very nice. He's VERY strict and if you don't follow his rules, it won't end well for you. Do the HW's ASAP, study for the class (and if you're new to Java, you need to study like a machine) and you're ok.

Isn't hard, but tedious hw. Gives you 2 weeks to do it but sometimes you need all of the 2 weeks to finish it. TAs are helpful and his tests are way easier than 114, still have to study tho. Very difficult to get an A in this class because he grades based on rank and there are people there who are pro coders. Overall fun class and u learn alot

Took CSE230 and 214 with him. Super clear professor who actually TEACHES you the material. Answers a lot of question. His practice exams are identical to the midterms. His Finals are sort of killer since he expects you to know a lot. I got a B in the class when I got 100 on most of the hw and did mediocre on the exams. DO ALL THE HW's!

Esmaili is a great middle man professor. He doesn't exactly offer any unique spin to the class, but he clearly explains fundamental CS principles. Very by the numbers. Pop quizzes are very sporadicannoying. Homework & practice tests are crucial. Don't challenge him on anything, unless you are ready to fight. His arrogance precedes him.

Cool dude. Accent may be a slight inconvenience but you get used to it. He's very helpful if you have questions.

Very nice professor, though you should expect ALOT of work from his classes. Most of the homework is fairly straight forward, but it does require alot of time to work on. Tests are fair, but definitely not easy. I've had far worser professors, so that's great for those that must take CSE 214.

I took CSE102 which was a joke class, but he was alright teaching it

Enjoyable professor for 214. Great projects that had solid use of other libraries and beat you in the face with object oriented design. Taught data structures well. For 311, this is his first semester teaching it and it's a mess. Lab days with no warning, a lot of time spent on topics not really related to Linux sys admin. Not too useful a course.

My favorite professor when I was here. He was tough and I learned a lot. Lectures and expectations were very clear and easy to follow. He offers extra credit with every assignment, which I strongly recommend if you have time since they really helped me learn (given I took the course over the summer - free time to work on this course)

Had him for 214, 305 and 311. He's a good prof, learned a lot in 214 and 305 (214 is hard,305 is pretty easy). Classes are always MWF which is a pain. Most recently had him for 311, was his first time doing this class and it showed, the class was very disorganized. Hopefully he cleans it up if he teaches it again, because he's a very capable prof.

He hasn't taught 215 in a while but he does know what he is doing. You don't have to attend lecture besides the occasional pop quiz but it's only worth a few percent of your grade. If you do all the homework, the tests would be fairly easy. I would recommend him if you want a light 215 class if he ever teaches it again.

Great Professor. His lectures are clear and he is very responsive to emails. Attendance isnt mandatory but he sometimes says what will be on the test. There was a total of 7 hw and doing them help in understanding the material. He also gives you a rank so you can know your grade at that point in the semester.

Lectures are decent, he just goes over the Power Point but gives extra detail and good tips. Tests are more about the theory than application so you won't have to hand-write code much which is great. Homeworks are long but overall not that hard. Start them early and try to do the extra credit portions. Recommended.

Exams are fair and he mostly tests you on the theory behind each data structure (usually only 1-2 coding problems). He gives pop quizzes, but they're pretty easy and are mostly there to check for attendance. Do all of the homework assignments; you will learn a lot from them. Esmaili is a very nice guy and he listens to feedback from students.

This class is a bit intimidating but Esmaili genuinely cares for his students and wants to see people succeed, and while his tests are difficult, he doesn't really throw any curve balls. He's a good choice for 214

The class had 7 home works that were due every other week. In addition to that, even though you do great in the first and second midterm, but do badly in the final, you can still get a good enough grade. He explains the material very well.

The best teacher you can have for 214. The class can be challenging, but the material in it is fundamental to the rest of CS. He offers extra credit, where if you do it all he will bump up your grade one letter. He's also really nice and he takes questions during class. Would definitely recommend to take him for 214 if possible.

Good and funny professor overall. If you have CS background before college then it's an easy A. My friend unbelievably received A who had been taken lots of points on midterm and final with a lot of imperfect HW grades. This class is the final trial to see if you can continue this major. He does give many students a hard time for HW assignments tho

He is a good professor but be prepared to put in time for his HWs that are due every two weeks(Start early). His tests are pretty similar to the practice tests that he will give so make sure you learn how to do every question in them. Youll come out of this class with a strong understanding of the material if you put in the work.

Great Professor, tests are fairly easy because of curve, show up in class for pop quizzes tho. He gives multiple a year and seems to follow a pattern with when he gives them but shakes things up randomly. He's also a tryhard when it comes to stopping people from cheating.

One of the best professors I have had so far at Stony. Very approachable through email, he typically replied within a few minutes and was always keen on making sure that the student understands. He always says don't go after the grade, try to understand the material, and I definitely agree! Try to understand the material, the grade will come.

Esmaili is pretty good at the material you need to learn about data structures and algorithms, but you definitely have to work in order to do well in the class. The class is ranked, which means there will always be the bottom percentage of the class that fails, but hes still good with his teaching. Study hard!

Esmaili is a good lecturer and I learned a ton in his class. However, his course slides show little information and can be vague. There were also lots of Homework assignments but I found them pretty fun.

He is the most outstanding professor you could have for CSE214. GOAT.

Overall great professor if you want to learn about data structures. Very good in explanation and reasoning. HWs are pretty long and difficult but teach you how to implement data structures. Make sure you start the HW as soon as it is posted and review recitation questions and complete all review tests prior to exams and you are guaranteed an A.

Fair. This is the word that best describes professor Esmaili. I took him twice. First semester was in person he gave tough midterm papers and final exams, I felt really demoralized after that final exam (score: D- uncurved, B- curved). Second semester was online over summer. I tried much harder, aced every homework (score: B uncurved, A+ curved).

All of his exams are really fair. He gives hints during lecture to what's going to be on the test, so definitely pay attention. Be authentic as well, and do your homework by yourself, and legitimately. He's extremely understanding and nice, so if you put your best foot forward he will also do the same and give you the best possible outcome.

Professor is fair, exams are super hard so the curve will save you. He is very understanding and responsive. He is very stern about his policies but a good lecturer overall. Be aware of random pop quizzes.