2.8
Quality3.3
DifficultyN/A
Would Retake101
ReviewsN/A
Would Retake
101
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
27
4
10
3
20
2
19
1
25
What Students Say
“talks in such a way it sounds like he's nervous and does an amazing job with confusing students”
CSC236 - 1.0 rating“Overall, not a good prof”
CSC209 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
100%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.83 avg changeRatings by Course
CSC258270
5.0
(1)CSC258H
5.0
(1)CSCD58
5.0
(2)CSCC09D58
5.0
(1)CSCC24
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
CSC270H1
5.0
CSCD58
4.0
C09
4.0
CSCC09D58
4.0
CSCC24
4.0
Reviews (101)
Lectures are incoherent, but helpful with questions on newsgroup
No Comments
No Comments
a hypnotic class lecture after lecture...
This guy was the biggest character ever, really tried to help students out
eccentric... notes are "all over the place"; very good with emails etc
Lectures don't make much sense but he's VERY willing to help students
No Comments
No Comments
he sits 24/7 behind his computer to reply emails! lectures! get a tutor buddy!
he always replied emails pretty fast.....but still the worst prof i've ever had
exam was a killer
see you in hell.... csc270 exam.....
Exams are HARD!!!
No Comments
Always Nervous + Hard Exams!!!
No Comments
must live next to his computers, returns emails in 30 seconds
Always ready to help students, very good guy.
No Comments
good guy, but notes suck, and i blame you for getting a d+, exams dont match lec
Very enthusiastic, a great CS prof
horrible prof, with useless lecture notes and hard exams, & unhelpfull @OfficeHr
Mr. Vague question, I wonder what were he thinking about 2002 Final exam :(
He is knowledge but he was terrible in lectures.
very smart, knows what he's talking about
a bit inconsequent lectures, wanted to be helpful & nice, though =)
confused lecturer, doesnt write anything down, assignments are hard
Nice and cute, love the speed at which he replies emails
Great at responding to newsgroup. Bad at lecturing.
No Comments
avoid this prof at all cost....he is the wrost csc prof ever
Be warned,go to just ONE lecture & judge yourself. Or ask anyone who had him!
Lectures 'lack', content, teaches 2 vaguely, thus assign/test APPEAR to be hard
One of the most helpful profs ive had!
nice guy, but can't teach/explain clearly.
EXTREMELY vague about the assignments, doesnt say what he wants us to do
I agree.. in fact, i'm probably working on the same assignment....
content very easy, but get nothing from lectures
unclear, but responds to emails quick.
very hard to follow/unclear
just horrible
unclear lectures
very helpful, genuinely willing to help out! great instructor!
nice guy, lecture not clear tho
No Comments
one of the worst i've had.....
No Comments
His Lectures are alright, but his Assignments are KILLER!
quick responses to emais and good Office Hours does not replace BAD lectures
VERY rambly , but ironically UNCLEAR lectures and teaching goals
Great person
not terrible, not wonderful, just ok. to sum it up: i've had better
GREAT!
nice guy. helpful but rambly. course site an excellent resource.
Compared to the likes of Jepson or Lee (my other profs this term) Rosenthal is considerate and concerned. he prepares you and knows what he is teaching, unlike some others. 5 stars!!
Very knowledgable, can't teach very well. Assignments challenging, yet fun. Killer tests!
hiring some stupid TAs. Lab TA.
Rosenthal is what good education is all about
He rambles and confuses you.. very vague.. killer assignments and exams. Course website is surprisingly organized and online notes are helpful at least
writes hard exams to lower grades...not very nice or helpful
Worst Prof I've ever had. Stay away from him. Tests and exams are challenging because you have no idea what he's asking for, as he cant string a propre sentence.
Extremely knowledgable prof. Very helpful if approached. Work in his courses are hard, but very rewarding. A little dry with lectures and tests are very in depth. Overall excellent experience. Would definately recommend him as a prof.
It is a nightmare to have a course taught by him. Don't ever take his courses because he doesn't teach you the stuff on the tests and exams.
Challenging Assignments! He himself is knowledgable but can't teach very well. Well well well, he has done his best---I can feel his enthusiasm.
wow ppl grow up. i took 258 last winter, and it was one of my most favourite courses. Rosenthal provides all the resources u need...u just need to learn how to READ and ASK questions - so grow up ppl - stop whining
Good website, that's almost the only good thing about the class. Has a lot of enthusiasm, but he cannot communicate properly.
Yeah, knowledgable and very careful on details but God is he the master of vagueness on his handouts. Helpful but you gotta make sure he doesn't ramble when answering you.
He was good help in CSC270 but in CSC258 was so so. Overall he has a good knowledge of what he is teaching but sometimes talks too much on the wrong topic. However, he was a great help with assigments.
Whoa...talk about a waste of time. Let me tell you, if you're thinking about attending his class, don't. Go to a good old fashioned****fight instead. That'd be time better spent.
The test matieral DOES not reflect what is taught in class. In fact, its only purpose is to LOWER the class average which is NOT the way you should treat students who have worked hard all term long.
Excellent Prof. I think everyone will agree. Very challenging exams though. Assignments are fun but VAGUE. Lectures will cure insomnia but tutorials are very knowledgeable.
Excellent professor. Don't expect to get an easy A with this guy though. His exams are extra potent. Assignments are fairly easy.
This ass made the exam so hard that it lowered my mark from a 90+ to 80. Thanks a lot man!
- Awesome Prof. - Very knowledgeable He has good reasons for being vague on the assignments. He gives us assignments that are similar to what we would expect in the industry.
All it matters is how fast you can write his exams. No one is ever able to finish them.
Disorganized Lectures, clear website notes to compensate, doesn't know how to write test/exam Q's (i.e. they are either too easy or too hard!)
One of the worst profs in the whole CS deptarment! Does not know how to create appropriate Q's for Assignments nor exams that reflect lecture material
Enjoyed the lectures very much.
His exams are killer, but his assignments are easy but long! But he is one of the best professors, he knows how to teach and he knows his stuff!
I'm really surprised he has such a high rating! Although he looks like a nice guy, the looks are deceiving! I did not find him very knowledgeable + the assignments are long and unclear + the tests and the exam are undoable!
I took three courses with Alan csc258 csc270 and cs209...The Material wasn't easy but the lectures were just awesome. I've been to the office hour a few times and the prof always made time for me. Overall I think this is one of the best profs you'll find.
Alan is an excellent prof, really knows his stuff well.
Alan Rosenthal = Unix. He knows everything there is to know about modern day computing. An excellent professor
Alan Rosenthal is an excellent prof, he's very helpful and is great for answering questions clearly .
He likes to overcomplicate his answers to your questions alot, when a simple yes or no would suffice. He also seems very hesitant to give away assignment solutions, meaning that he will rarely be helpful when you ask him for help with them.
his lectures are SOOO BORING! it takes the guy 20 minutes to answer a simple question and he talks in such away that he keeps branching off into insigificant details so students forget his actual point. he shows effort in his work but overly complicates things, he should just keep it simple.
As long as you're interested in the course and computer science in general, his lectures are genuinely interesting. He's obviously enthusiastic about certain topics in CS, which helps. Some of his test questions can be quite obscure, but you won't be the only one to get them wrong.
He's a really good teacher; he's enthusiastic, helpful and easy to follow. Because he genuinely seems to care, he's probably my least intimidating prof so I wouldn't hesitate to ask him a question
a boring prof., over-complicates on everything, & he's subjective in marking assignments...he only wants to get what he believes in the assignment...develop a abstract paradigm from an empirical and concrete idea, that makes us unclear on the concept only...
worst prof ever. guy is too anxious and anal. jumps all over the place in lectures and has no notes whatsoever. what a waste of time.
Even though I was never registered in any of his classes, I made sure I attended his section. He knows his material very well, and answers your questions in a prompt manor.
Better for 258 than for 236. You kind of need to get used to him. Midterm was incredibly easy, and I thought the final was too, but I guess they marked it hard. One major problem: doesn't really make any notes, and there wasn't a text, so you need to pay attn in class. Really nice guy, smart, interesting. Classes are fun, if you like the material.
most boring proff keeps branching off and talking about the most useless things. impossible to follow him in lectures and his lecture notes and solutions on assignments are IMPOSSIBLE to understand. talks in such a way it sounds like he's nervous and does an amazing job with confusing students. he should retire and make puzzles.
Rosenthal made learning python so difficult, don't listen to his lectures, just go online and search it on google.
Courses also includes: CSCC09, CSCC69, CSCD08. Extremely helpful prof. Sometimes he is kind of vague in his lectures, but he will definitely clarify if you go to his office hours. He does have a tendency not to finish the massive amount of prepared materials every lecture; maybe he knows too much and want us to get our money's worth.
Rambles a lot. The examples he uses to explain concepts are a waste of time. Good intentions, but a waste of time. Very boring. Seems very bitter. Bad jokes. Midterm was much more vague & harder than the sample test he gave us. Glad this class is only half a semester.
The course title: "Why and How of Computing" is misleading. This course has no substance. A comment on instructor: I don't know how he got a teaching job at U of T - supposedly the strongest school in Canada? Anyway stay away from this prof.
Very helpful professor! He genuinely wants to help. Never lets a student leave until they are given a satisfactory answer to their problem.
Overall, not a good prof. He is clearly intelligent, but his lectures lack structure and he assumes you have a lot of knowledge which you may not. He doesn't return assignments, so I had to drop as I was unsure of my mark in the course. His main plus point is that he usually responds to email quite quickly if you have any issues.
Best professor ever had in university
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
100%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.83 avg changeRatings by Course
CSC258270
5.0
(1)CSC258H
5.0
(1)CSCD58
5.0
(2)CSCC09D58
5.0
(1)CSCC24
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
CSC270H1
5.0
CSCD58
4.0
C09
4.0
CSCC09D58
4.0
CSCC24
4.0