Very passionate about his work and his teaching. Really inspired us to care. I highly recommend that you take at least one course with this professor. He also won an Excellence in Teaching award a few years ago (which I nominated him for).

Really cares about students. Very approachable in class and in office hours. Very patient. Very animated in class. Quizzes are easy but tricky.

One of the finest teachers that UCSC has. The man's research is on improving students learning in Comp Sci. - Nominated for professor of the year award -->not at the school, in the country!!!

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Excellent teacher. Extremely sensitive to students' needs, and has infinite patience. Very animated.

Charlie is a cool professor to be around. His teaching style is relaxed but you still learn good amount of material at the same time. He is always smiling and friendly. I recommend him.

Answers all your questions, wants you to understand. Not too good at lectures go to MSI instead. Likes to give quiz answers in class, keep your quizzes for the final! Very animated and helpful if you take advantage of it. Ask questions! Or you will get behind.

He is a good teacher. Even I got a B- but I think he is fair because if you work and study you will do good. The quiz in class is exactly the final so study the quiz you will get good grade on the final.

He is a wonderful professor. Quizes are direct and to the point. He doesn't mislead you and provides a full knowledge of what you will be tested on. He is helpful and open to try new things. He uses nice technology and his online review questions help a lot with his tests. He gets an A from me.

Awesome teacher. Not boring at all, very enthusiastic, asks class questions which I like. Quizzes/final are very fair. Programs are too easy, but are worth next to nothing (~20% for 5 labs) so it works out. Class was a bit too easy overall.

Great teacher. Made the subject very clear and he was very enthusiastic about his job.

seems like he assumes you know a bit of programming going into the class so it's hard to fall behind if you don't watch yourself... was a little too fast paced for someone like me who had NO experience programming whatsoever. however, if you have some background already i think the class should be an easy A. likes to get students involved.

Awesome teacher....very helpful and understanding. Knows his subject and is enthusiastic about it. Very cool.

Class goes very fast paced. Shows up to the labs for 5 minutes max then leaves (Very annoying) which is bad because oftentimes you need to ask him a question and hes not there. Makes the programing projects cumulative which is bad because you cant start on the next assignment until you finish the previous and this can hinder your grade BIG TIME.

Very easy to understand. Lectures are really valuable. DOES in fact barely show up for labs. Kinda strict. The main problem is that his grading system is a joke. There are just too many stupid things he nails you for, i.e. lines over 80 chars long, using numbers where variables can be used, too many comments, too few comments, code too long, etc.

Prof. McDowell is an excellent teacher, when it comes to teaching. When it comes to grading, though, things get a little wacko. Pay LOTS of attention to his grading guidelines, so you don't loose points for stupid things. Also, be sure to know your **** when it comes to scope, because 90% of the non-coding questions on the quizes are just that

You'll learn a lot from this guy. He's very enthusiastic about the material. Emphasizes a lot of common mistakes to make sure you won't make them. Make sure you follow the coding guidelines, or you might end up with a C on a program that runs perfectly and follows the specifications exactly, like I did.

One of the most helpful and amazing teachers at UCSC. I love this guy, gave me a great foundation for cmps 12b

Took this class a year ago. Be warned - he yells A LOT. He's a bit intimidating because he's loud but he was able to answer all my questions. People in my year seemed to like him, but apparently the students this year do not. He expects LOTS of comments for your code so do not get lazy! Study quizzes, and pay attention to in-class examples.

Hard hard class!! He got way harder this year than last year. If you want an A, be ready to do a lot of work, and even then....

Charlie is extremely helpful, especially if you go to his office hours. Put in a little effort to get him to know your face, it'll pay off! It's true that Charlie can get frustrated with the class and start yelling. When half the class is falling asleep on him, you can't blame him. He lectures are really good, but it does take effort to pass!

charlie knows whats up

Charlie gives off the impression that he loves comp sci and at least enjoys teaching it. If you know what you are doing and pay attention then you'll do fine. If you slack off and don't do any work then your grade will reflect. DO NOT PUT THE LABS OFF UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE YOU WILL REGRET IT. Also work with a partner. It is much easier.

Enthusiastic and funny, Extremely knowledgeable. Attend office hours and section for help, and especially lectures. Utilize how he asks for ANY questions at beginning of lecture (nothing is a stupid one according to him). Does not curve at all, not even if 1/3 of the class is failing. Work with a partner.

He's a great guy. Very willing to help after class and at office hours. The assignments were challenging but they were actually kinda fun and useful learning tools. He's also pretty funny and eccentric. His past quizzes and slides are very important resources, more often than not the questions on the current quizzes have appeared before.

Class is too easy if you know basic java syntax

He's not as bad as others have said. Sure, he doesn't teach that well, but the class itself is not truly that hard. You just gotta do a lot of practice for quizzes, get help on the programs, and you can easily get at least a B. It's only a step up from his cmps 5j class in terms of difficulty.

Super Easy class. All you need is an iclicker and study his clicker questions and previous quizzes. That'll guarantee you at least a A- and don't buy the book useless, get it online for free.

He was a great professor. I learned a lot from McDowell and I managed to learn something knew from all of the homework assignments. I enjoyed the iclicker portion of the course and he always seemed so enthusiastic about programming, it was refreshing. Take him if you want to gain a better understanding of programming.

Charlie is very enthusiastic about his subject, which sometimes comes off as rude. He apologized in class for this behavior, and has been careful not to repeat it. His quizzes are hard because they test both programming and abstract Java design. Overall, I think that he is a great guy and a good teacher who makes the subject very accessible.

Charlie (or Mr. Google, as I took to calling him) is a cool teacher who's extremely enthusiastic about the subject. Quizzes in the class were notoriously difficult for being tricky, but only because he wanted us to realize how methodical computers act despite what we tell them to do. But he makes sure he's very clear on what he's explaining. Candy.

He's one of those people who you'll either HATE or LOVE, there's no midpoint. I got him three quarters in a row, and I am definitely in the proCharlie side, but I understand why peolpe don't like him. He has an interesting sense of humor. Also, I didn't know anything about porgramming before taking his class and I don't think it was an impediment.

Charlie will yell at you if you do not understand a topic that was covered 3 weeks ago. He will ignore you if it's week 5 and you still don't know how to write an if statement. I feel it's justified. Put in the required effort and the class is a breeze. I think he just hates people who lazy, because this class is not even slightly hard.

Great professor. Clicker questions almost every class, so definitely don't skip lecture. Homework assignments are time consuming, but do-able with persistence. Got a B on the midterm. Trying to pull off an A in the class, but I'm on the verge because of my midterm score. Homework is 30% of grade (do extra credit to give yourself a cushion).

Charlie is super passionate which definitely makes class more enjoyable. Has clicker questions every class and these count for participation points. Lab criteria is clear & Charlie gives the opportunity of extra credit if the program looks like you went above & beyond expectations. Only tests: midterm & final. Very friendly & helpful office hours.

Mcdowell is great! gives candy during class. gives partial/whole credit for missed deadlines. Midterms have the same exact as questions as in class. Very helpful and easygoing teacher. the sections are mandatory but if you miss it you can go to a different one for credit. Easy to get distacted and slack off, but the class gets harder as it goes on.

Resourceful, fun lectures, but projects can get a little tricky.

This was my first ever experience with Comp Sci. Lecture was more like a review of the text where he showed examples and cleared doubts. He eagerly encouraged students to ask questions, was noticeably sad when everyone didn't understand, and tried his best to change that. Labs were mandatory and completely useless which I found infuriating.

Charlie "Daddy" McDowell is an amazing professor. He's funny and easy to listen to. He's very passionate about the class and wants everyone to succeed. He only gets upset if people ask questions that have already been answered either in the text or in lecture. Don't be stupid and you'll have a great time. Watch out for his gems, such as "BONK".

During his lectures, the professor likes to alter code and ask us what we think will happen if we execute it. He hands out candy to those who ask questions and never struck me as rude. His quizzes are hard, but you can prepare with examples from previous exams that he uploads.

Pretty cool prof. People who take his class either hate it or love it.

McDowell always had very realistic expectations for assignments and quizzes. Gives lots of examples in class and material to prep for quizzes/exams. He is also quite helpful in office hours. He can get upset sometimes when people don't get a concept but he just really wants to make sure people leave the class knowing the fundamentals.

He's pretty alright. His labs will get more difficult as the quarter comes to to the end. Just read the textbook and go to tutoring and you'll be fine. His quizzes can be tricky but just study throughout the quarter.

Professor McDowell tries really hard to make his students understand the material that he is teaching, but he also isn't very sensitive to dumb questions or questions asked before. In his defense, it seems like he's trying to work on this. All in all, I thought he was a great professor, and I would take it in.

Overall a really great intro to java class. As long as you keep up with the readings you should be in good shape. He gives a lot of time during lectures to answer questions and to go over example problems. His quizzes are almost identical to his past ones so just study study study.

Really great professor! Really smart and passionate about programming and computer science as a whole. The class was very easy and his lectures were always entertaining and he is a very funny guy. Study for the quizzes (5 total) as they are very important and if you get over an 80% average on them, your quiz average can be used instead of the final

Charlie is dadddy. Watch him closely and you'll pass class with A :ok_hand: Quiz 3 was hard though.

Charlie expects you to work hard to understand the tough material, and gets frustrated by a lack of effort from his students. He is helpful and accessible in his office hours, though. Lots of very interesting textbook reading early in the class prepares you well for the heavy programming assignments later on. Do all the work and put in the time!

Charlie's classes are based on students asking questions, which can be useful, but sometimes not very helpful as this is all pretty basic stuff. Read the book, attend section, do the practice tests, and you will be fine.

Great professor, very easy class if you study. Has a great sense of humor and does very well in preparing students for his quizzes and finals. Also he curved the class by a huge percentage.

Charlie has entertaining and educational lectures. Those who complain about his quizzes being difficult most likely don't do the practice quizzes or go to lecture, as the problems on the quizzes are exactly the same as the ones on the practices quizzes, or examples given in class. Overall, I've learned a lot

This was a fun class with Charlie. He could be a bit mean sometimes, but he was often justified. Basically gave us all the tests beforehand so I don't know why people had so much trouble. Haskell was fun to learn. People who have to take it with Mackey next quarter will wish they took advantage of how easy Charlie made some aspects of the course.

CSE112 was a medium-difficult class. Charlie's teaching was fascinating with lots of interactions. Assignments were super time-consuming since most of them required new languages. But the exams were okay.