Lots of work but good grades

Solid professor, can't go wrong with this one. Lectures are pretty straight forward, homeworks assigned are pretty interesting. He is very organized but also strict with his grading policies. Very friendly in office hours.

He made operating systems very easy to comprehend..

very interesting class!

Nice professor.

Overall it's pretty good.

very clear and would go back and explain whenever asked

The lectures are not so bad as some other people comment. Algorithm is a difficult course, and if you don't do some pre-course reading, you will get lost during the lecture. Most importantly, his lecture slides are full of key points and examples. This is good if you want to review the course material after a long time.

I like this Professor and the course he taught! I'm not a CS student but still can catch Cheng's class which is really important to me!

Great professor and his teaching is excellent. You have to be really concentrating in this class, otherwise you will be lost. If you sit and listen to his class properly, I am sure you will know how good he is. He is also very helpful during office hours.

Very helpful professor and gives good coding assignments which will help you a lot

Excellent course work and projects. The concepts are very interesting and are discussed as much as it is necessary. Since the course domain is very vast don't expect spoon feeding.

The course is very valuable in terms of its project, and do a big amount of favor if you can memorize things on lecture notes. The thing is, the concept of operating system is a kind of nested, if you cannot review the lecture on den, you will definitely fall behind.

The concept and the material on class is not that hard but the project is not that easy.

If you want to crack any interview related to OS, this course is the key.

he gets you ready for any os interview, you'll learn a lot

He is nice professor but you need to be catchy in the class to understand the stuff .. Tip is read the topic before attending the class and attend all the classes at higher priority helps to clarify the doubts, very helpful and very clear with programming concepts

This is a very helpful course. And Bill taught very well!

This is the only course I took on kernel and it is very helpful. The lecturer clearly explains every points.

Good Professor

He is a kind professor

Good Professor!

He his very motivating Professor!...:) encouraged me to do well in the finals

He was a great Professor, Jolly and friendly. His assignments were very good.

Recommend this Proff !

Good projects.

The course structure is very good and assignments are very helpful. But, Prof. Cheng needs to make lectures more interesting and interactive. I found lectures monotonous.

Projects are great for Resume. Lectures get a bit monotonous- could be made interactive. Overall a good course and beneficial for getting internships.

PROFESSOR CHENG IS REALLY GOOD AND PAY GREAT ATTENTION TO DETAILS.

Good Professor and great clarity. Good projects and with good approach.

Recommend this course with Prof. Cheng. Extremely important course. Bill explains the things clearly. Project is really fun. The only downside I experienced was the exams. Midterm and final are silly as it was like reciting the slides

Assignments are really good and can learn a lot from assignments. It helped me during my internship interviews and also honed my programing skills. Course is very well structured :)

Good points: 1. good coursework and great assignments! 2. Always helpful with the assignments as they do need discussion to solve. 3. Explains points clearly. Areas that need improvement: Exam pattern 2. Prof needs to draw attention from students

The kernel assignments are not easy but we all know OS is not easy, right? Anyway, Bill gives a good grade for students who really follow his schedule.

A very dedicated professor and explains very well. Supports students to a large extent and is very encouraging. Learned a lot from this course. The Professor puts in lots of attention and effort, which is evident in the slides which have step by step code flow.

Excellent Professor. Very well organized projects and assignments. Encourages discussion among students through google groups. Easily approachable and ready to help. His exams are purely based on slides and its pretty score good grades in exams. OS under Cheng is worth the course!

useful for students who want to transfer to cs

Good Professor but assignment guidelines are a bit difficult to follow .

Overall a good professor.

Professor Cheng did a great job to teach this course!

very very complex assignments. Some assignments seems worthless . Lecture are quite boring and monotonous. But professor's explanations of topics are good.

Assignments help learn a lot. Lectures are good.

useful class

teaching is good. All assignments are good except the last kernel which is not necessary unless you specialize in systems.

Awesom Prof. Teaching is not that great but the assignments make you work your ass out, you will in turn learn A LOT. Exams are not so hard. Grading is pretty good and fair. If you get a chance to take cs402 under him, JUST TAKE IT

Class is good. Kernel assignments 1 and 2 are not that difficult, they can be done in 1-2 weeks. However, kernel assignment 3 takes at least a month to get the whole thing working. Exam questions come straight from the slides, but you gotta understand the concepts clearly cause questions are tricky. His explanations of slides are good but boring.

Excellent kernel assignments, makes you understand the material better. Be sure to attend lectures to get extra credit. Extremely helpful. Be sure to follow his rules!

Professor is a stickler for rules. Stick to them, and it will hold you in good stead. Clear grading criteria. Exams are decently tough, everything is conceptual based. Kernel assignments 1 and 2 are pretty easy; if you wish to complete kernel 3, you will need a good team and a lot of time.

Well organized, very useful class

Great prof. Hard course though.

Good course although assignments are very time consuming.

Good Professor. Lengthy lectures and long assignments but clears your concepts. Helps you learn a lot.

Great learning experience

Prof is very clear with what he is teaching. Grading guidelines are damn clear. Assignments, syllabus , exams everything is pre-decided and transparent. CS402 course is hard but made it simple by prof.

He has his own way of teaching, lectures are informative, assignments are challenging, tests are tricky. I would like to take another course under him. He is inspirational to many.

Class was done very well. Lectures were very well prepared and clear. The group projects were hard but made me understand how OS's work. The last project is extremely hard. Overall a fantastic class. It has made me a better software engineer.

Great teaching, amazing assignments but a tough course

Overall, an excellent class. If you put in the effort you'll learn more than you've ever learned before. Having said that, be prepared to work more than you've ever worked. On busy days, I was working 10-14 hours per day. Unless you take it during summer, your other course better be easy.

CS 402. This course under him is one of the best options for USC CS students. Assignments and lectures are good.

Thorough rule, very caring, answers from Google Group is fast and juicy no matter how trivial the problem is, great prof!!!

Great Professor. Really teaches the concepts very well. I took CS-402 under him. His projects, although repetitive, are very useful and if you work hard towards them they will be very useful, both for other classes and for interviews. He gives a lot of extra credit so getting anything less than a B+ in his class is not possible.

Lectures are very delineated and often even corrects the textbook.

I totally recommend this course for CS students in USC. It is worth taking this course. Professor is so clear in his course material and fair to everyone. He is fair to each and every student in class. Coursework is designed such that you will understand many how and why questions related to OS and computer itself. I totally enjoyed the course.

He is one of the best professor ever at USC. He teaches really well. Everything is so organized in his class. I wish he taught other subjects too.

He is a great lecturer, but makes you work hard

I learned my operating system concepts under him. A lot of hands on project and assignments. Really enjoyed working on my final OS project

Definitely a tough course, exams are difficult and requires really thorough understanding of materials. Every coding HW is a struggle for me, but I managed through and learned a lot. Lecturing is a bit dull (but informative). Mandatory attendance is a minus. Definitely recommend this course to those who want to challenge themselves.

One of the best professor I've met in Viterbi. He is so familiar with everything about OS. His lectures are compact, fast-paced and smooth. He also spent a lot of time to answer all of the students' questions in Google groups that I have to unsubscribe the email notification from that group.

Heavy project work cool examinations (MCQ) type . One of the best professors in USC.

One of the best Prof in USC. You dont want to miss his class

Literally one of, if not the best(and toughest) course and Prof in USC CS

The best professor at USC without doubt, his class is the best organized class you will find Explains the stuff pretty well.

Expectations were pretty high, and the course delivers! Probably one of the most useful courses. OS dev won't seem like alchemy anymore. If you want to tackle the harder challenges in assignments, it would be wise to use a separate branch since final assignments will tie everything together, so you want everything to be correct. Have fun!

Professor Cheng is a solid choice. The class is full of concepts but he explains everything fairly well. He's very helpful with the assignments, especially debugging. All materials are online and grading criteria are extra clear. The cons: sometimes talks too quickly, and assignments are time-consuming. A good cheat sheet will save you in exams.

Really great prof. Really cares for his students.

Must say that this was the best course I have taken so far at USC! Mid semester you might be wondering what you have got yourself into but you will know how much you have learnt once you finish the course! And in addition, doing OS at USC is a brand stamp for recruitment ��

Can't believe someone is complaining about getting more lecture time for FREE. I only felt grateful that I met such a responsible and nice professor who wanted his students to learn more knowledge. Yes, this course was not easy, and there was so much material covered, but I also learned a lot! Definitely recommend it.

Incredible effort, from comprehensive slide decks to writing specific assignment write ups to answering Piazza in minutes. Detail oriented, adheres to a policy of providing absolute fairness to all students. Exams carry a lot of weight and a portion is just memorizing. Great assignments, broken into manageable size and cumulative through whole sem

Programming assignments and labs are very time consuming, but the specs are very detailed. The professor is on Piazza answering question EVERYDAY late into the night. He makes sure the rules are painfully clear, grades fast, and is one of the hardest working professors. One downside is not very inspiring, as I really don't want to pursue CS after.

Prof Cheng is a world-class lecturer -- no doubt. I studied at a top 10 uni (world ranking) for a semester, and I can confidently say that he belongs to the top 10 uni caliber. Detailed, rigorous content, standardized testing, absolute fairness, and considerate personality. Viterbi is lucky to have him onboard. Take him for world-class education.

Professor Cheng is a great Professor! His workload is pretty heavy in the class and I would clear out anywhere from 5-15 hours of week of homework if you want to do his assignments correctly. He clearly cares about his students and will stay up until late hours to answer piazza posts or emails. Overall, it is not an easy class, but I learned a lot!

Prof Cheng taught me OS concepts in a way that I will remember for the rest of my life. His attention to detail and clarity of thought is mind blowing and sometimes I could not even believe how knowledgeable someone can be. The projects were hard, but I loved them. They taught me invaluable skills that will be useful for years to come.

If you're trying to truly learn the material, definitely take this class with Bill. In all my time at this school, I don't think I've ever met a teacher who designs their curriculum as thoroughly as he does. He has very clear rules, doesn't play favorites, sticks to his schedule, and runs class with consistency, you'll never be the dark

CSCI 402 was one of the most challenging and amazing courses I took during my Master's program and it is all because of the well structured and very nicely explained lectures by the professor, discussion sessions, all the help and guidance from the professor and the TAs. Will definitely be one of the best courses in USC according to me!

402 is the best course in USC, pick that, and you would learn a lot! He is always online, and answer students questions, though sometimes, his answers are not good enough. The core and best part of 402 is its project, weenix, if it is possible, you should do it yourself, you would learn lots of useful things for your furture working!

402 is the HARDEST but the best course in USC CS, do not be scared by its difficulty, it is worth. You will learn lots of helpful knowledge during this course, and after going to real-world problem-solving, you can then find nothing can stop you, because that course already taught you how to deal with it. Highly recommend to everyone in USC cs/ee

Professor Cheng is very organized and clear about everything. You know all the deadlines for the whole semester from the first day of class. He responds to Piazza posts and emails pretty much immediately. The class is a lot of work, but it's very instructive and useful material. Great professor, great class!

Most people taking this course are CSSE students but this is not an Intro to Computer Science course. You are expected to have programming experiences in C and you need to work very hard to finish the assignments. Overall very good materials and assignments and Professor is very responsive.

The class was challenging for sure, but the content covered is great and you get to learn a lot. Professor explains the concepts well and makes it understandable. It is definitely a heavy course but worth it, you also get hands on experience with coding and building your own kernel. Overall, my experience and learning was awesome.

This course is outstanding. It helped me solidify my OS fundamentals and land an amazing job eventually. Professor Cheng is an excellent mentor. He guides all of the students extremely well. His inputs are invaluable for the programming assignments and the in-class concepts. I learned a lot over the duration of this course.

One of the best courses USC has to offer for CS students. 402 is a tough course and expects a lot out of you but it teaches you a lot in return. The professor is amazing and is easily available outside the class. This course helped me land a job at Apple. I recommend taking some light course on the side as this course is very time consuming.

Professor provides strict guidelines about the assignments but you'll realize after doing the kernel-1 assignment why it is needed. Everything related to the course and assignment is clearly stated. The lecture material is very good and you'll definitely learn a lot in this course.

The GOAT course in USC. If you are into low level programming/computer networking this course is an absolute must !

You'll Learn ! A lot ! Kernel Assignments are very interesting and very tough, and my team needed effort from the full team. A lot of it was helping each other work through problems. He's very accessible in the class google group. The grading curve is very, very nice. Lectures cover a ton of content. Class broadened my understanding a lot

An absolutely incredible course that equips you with a solid understanding of Operating Systems. The kernel assignments (especially Kernel 3) are quite intricate and require you to develop solid debugging skills in order to complete them. The professor is extremely accessible & knowledgeable - he promises to respond within 24 hours and ALWAYS does.

The "flipped classroom" model basically takes zoom to the extreme. One can learn through the semester only watching recordings, which sounds less like a course you want to take in a university. Grading & Homework are fair, and he gives extra credit for submitting early.

Operating systems is one of the best courses USC is offering to the CS/EE students. The Kernel assignments (especially Kernal 3) are really difficult to solve. Professor Bill guides all of the students very well. His inputs are invaluable for the programming assignments and the in-class concepts. I learned a lot over the duration of this course.

This was by far the best course I have taken here at USC. The course is organized with perfection and the belief that we will receive a reply from the professor in 24 hrs was totally amazing. All the assignments were well structured, the extensive list of FAQs addressed almost all the concerns. Perfect blend of lectures + programming assignments.

Socket,system calls,network protocols,multithreading are very important if you don't want to only do web dev and 353 covers them adequately. Bill is a nice person: provides both on/off line lectures,no-ask to waive midterm,late night Piazza. Teaches well too IMO. HOWEVER, PAs' IO format sucks. Valuable PAs are ruined by wasting time handling IO.

Amazing course, heavy on kernel assignments, but you will learn a lot in the process

The best & most challenging course I took here at USC. Professor Cheng has great knowledge about the course and is very helpful. Piece of advice: The course load is equivalent to 1.5 grad level courses. Having it as a single course will give you the best experience. Watch/Rewatch prof's lectures or the assignments won't come by easy.

Professor Cheng is the best. He is the most energetic professor I have ever seen. He repeats an answer to your question as many times as you want him to. Extremely helpful and motivating.

This was the hardest class @ USC imo. Prof Cheng is super passionate about networking. The one tricky part is the labs and assignments because the instructions are lengthy and often times confusing to understand. Tip: make sure to do every lab because each lab builds off the next and every 3 labs turns into the PA.

The "flipped classroom" model require you to watch ~5hr video each week. The assignments are hard but we learned a lot. You must master gdb skills to debug the kernel. Going through the kernel FAQ before starting kernel assignments will save you a lot of time for debugging. The professor replies our emails very quickly.

Didn't mind this class. Yes, it's hard and a lot of work, and I will say if you fall behind it is probably really hard to catch up. There is however a good curve, and I thought grading was fair and well communicated. Cheng was very active over piazza/email, and gave helpful directions/pseudocode (imo). There are some great CP's in this class too.

I feel like I took a different course than the people below complaining that it was impossible--Cheng's website has all the pseudocode and video explanations you need to get the assignments done well. Big fan of how structured the course is. Exams are tricky but identical to the previous semester ones he posts. Went to lecture twice and did fine.

he reminds me of my dad lol. he has clear, strict guidelines for the class and explains them very well - follow them and you should be fine. PAs took me a while since I did a slow AWS vm thing, but the pseudocode makes them pretty easy! he's also very helpful in OH/over email - send him your code/questions and he'll respond ASAP!

Extremely clear grading criteria, but SO MUCH WORK. Lots of pseudocode provided, but there is a LOT to read and he has a tendency to over-elaborate. Weekly assignments and 5 overall projects. Midterm/Final could be taken online, which was nice. Super accessible and responsive, but this class requires so much reading and he writes a LOT.

Clear instructions & grading guidelines. U watch recorded lectures and attend live lectures for Q&A. Quick reply to questions. Mostly multiple choices in exams. Provides old exams but no answers cuz he reuses some questions. Heavy workload but not too hard with the provided breakdown of steps and guiding timelines. Extra credit for early turn-in.

Great professor. He responds within 24 hours. He also expects you to have a strong discipline and is willing to clarify the specs in high level. In PAs, I recommend following his advice since the labs and PAs build on each other.

Such a touchable individual, nice professor, memorable for life 👍👍👍👍👍