1.4
Quality4.6
Difficulty9%
Would Retake175
Reviews9%
Would Retake
175
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
8
4
3
3
8
2
17
1
139
What Students Say
“Lectures are a waste of time”
BIT1400 - 1.0 rating“Had previous years of programming experience”
BIT2400 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
62%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.13 avg changeRatings by Course
ITEC1401
2.0
(2)BIT2400
1.7
(28)ITEC1400B
1.5
(6)ITEC5207
1.5
(2)ITEC1401A
1.4
(12)Difficulty by Course
ITEC2001
5.0
IMD4008
5.0
ITEC1401
5.0
BIT2008
4.6
BIT1400
4.6
Reviews (175)
This man is by far the worst prof I ever had, behind his fake smile he does not care one bit about you or anyone else. He thinks he is a god literally just cuz he worked in google. We don't know anything and he expects us to be experts giving us hard assignments on material we don't know. If this man is your prof drop right away before you fail.
This guy is very smart but he does not understand that everyone that took the previous class, which was BIT 1400, did not learn anything and he expects us to know everything when we clearly don't know anything. Everyone keeps telling him the same thing but he ignores it and won't make anything easier. Just pray that you don't get this guy.
Um, no.
I found him to be very enjoyable and good at what he teaches; however, assignments are difficult as he wants to prepare us for the world.
I don't like the way he teaches. He doesn't show us how to do code (with visual basics in class) and tutorials are pretty much useless. His assignments are hard and he doesn't prepare us enough for them.
Bad in-class examples. Assignments are way too hard compared to the lectures. Way too cocky because he worked at google. He emphasizes tutorials but they are basically useless. Both his BIT2400 & BIT1400 classes failed the midterm, 40% average on the midterm and he blames the class for that. Worst professor, never take his class.
His lecture slides provide little to no help with assignments and studying for the midterm. The midterm was incredibly hard and was overly complicated with lots of reading and confusing question The class midterm average was a 40 and he accepts no blame for it. The labs are awful he rarely sticks around to provide help. Try to avoid him at all cost
"I found him to be very enjoyable and good at what he teaches; however, assignments are difficult as he wants to prepare us for the world." whoever said this is straight delusional.
This guy thinks he's some god or something, expected a 65-80 average on the midterm and ended up with a 40 average. Took no blame for the class failing. Slides offer no help, shows no examples, labs are useless. He'll be lucky if he survives the school year.
Horrible marking scheme for the midterm and assignments. Doesn't know how to use our online learning system. We don't have any marking schemes for assignments so we no idea what parts of the assignments are actually worth marks. TA's & Tutorials are useless and 0 help at all, if you do show up he basically calls you stupid for not knowing things.
I am new to coding and this class has made me question if it is for me. David overwhelms the class with material and skips from topic to topic without making sure the class has a firm understanding of the concept. The class had a failing midterm average and he accepts none of the blame for it saying it was the classes fault. Avoid him at all cost
He is well aware that we have a poor foundation from our previous introduction course (BIT1400) and he still continues to teach us foreign concepts, this goes to show how he doesn't care about the pace of this class. His excuse is "I need to teach you guys the core of this course, which is why I'm going so fast". DON'T take this course
This is the first time I've ever learnt how to code and I don't like how he teaches. I already had to drop the class only because he is a terrible prof. Expects too much when we know absolutely nothing. Maybe I'll take this class again with a different prof who will actually teach and give good examples.
Honestly a pleasant guy in class but his assignments are out of this world hard and very difficult to understand. I believe he knows a lot about the subject but his teaching methods are ineffective as most programming profs are.
Honestly a joke. He doesn't spell check any of his assignments that he hands out, and for the most part they don't make sense.
Horrible, honestly what were they thinking hiring this guy even if you google him you can see how he couldn't even keep a job for a year. If you can't teach stick to working with a company or something. I had to drop this class because it would ruin my transcript, hopefully he isn't there when I take the class again.
Average teacher, hard assignments.
When I started the course I thought he was a super engaging and kind professor. He continued to being a good presenter although I wish he would go step by step on subjects or assignments before they were due since I wasn't able to learn anything from seeing code being quickly typed on the board. Dropped this course since I can't risk failing exam.
If you want to know how to code avoid this guy. He don't know how to teach.
This Prof is not helping at all, I was taking BIT 1400 with him with no programming background and I thought it's the fundamental course and should learn something.... honestly I learned nothing at all, his assignments is really hard and most of the time u don't know what he wants....
His labs boil down to the ta's trying to figure out whats wrong with his files. Both BIT1400 and BIT2400 had an average of about 40% on the midterm this term. He also refused to make any accommodations for an emergency surgery with multiple sick notes as documentation until multiple members of the PMC were on his case. If you can switch do it now.
He does not listen to the students when they tell him "WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING!!!" the average of our class was 25% ! unfortunately that was not enough for him to know that the class actually have a problem with his teaching !
during exam season when everyone in the program had 3 exams back to back, he told everyone to not study for anything else because he was the only important class. he doesn't accommodate anyone, even if you had a crippling medical condition he doesn't care. the assignments are as long as midterms and due every week. Avoid this class like the plague
A lot of the ratings for David are quite bad, however, he isnt that bad of a teacher. He is definitely not the best teacher, nor the worst. The assignments he gives are quite difficult; and a lot of the time they dont relate to what we are learning. His judgement for difficulty is bad, but overall decent teacher, with good intentions.
He knows his thing but his level doesnt match ours! Probably forgot that it was an intro class Huge weekly assignments were given & we didnt know how to do them bc we were not taught properly, and that was affecting other courses as well! Even though i had passed the midterm unlike the majority, i dropped the course as i couldnt take the pressure
So with David, he clearly knows what programming is... Unfortunately he doesn't know how to teach, if you have him be prepared to teach yourself how to program and be ready for the whiplash created by the assignments. The first few assignments are very easy but then there's a tipping point where they get stupidly difficult if you are new to coding.
I went into this course with a solid understand of C++ from my 1400 class (diff prof, received an A+). But I struggled to understand / complete the assignments for 2400 and did not enjoy his teaching style, despite his kind demeanor. This course was made out to be way harder than necessary. I would advise you to drop, if possible.
I did very well but his whole attitude around the class doing very badly on the tests and exams was quite off putting. He literally said the reason for the midterm average be %49 was because the class didnt try hard enough. After taking the midterm I can say that it was just to long to complete in the time limit.
David really does teach you how to program in C. It's not easy and requires a lot of work, but at the end of the day you come out with knowing how to properly code. David also struggles with awkward sentences and grammatical errors in his writing, which really effects your understanding of what the assignment is asking of you.
David is a great professor who will get you where you want to get to programming wise. However, make sure you are up to the task of learning and putting in the effort or prepare to fail miserably.
Extremely difficult assignments that do not reflect what is covered in lectures or labs! He tends to ramble during lectures and does not prepare you for his assignments. Sprague made this course way more difficult than it should be. The average for the first midterm was 55%!!
Lectures are a waste of time because he talks about nonsense. Would recommend spending that time learning the course material yourself.
I have always wanted to learn about programming and add it to my skills, but with sprague I wasn't able to do so he made me hate programming even more now. I wish I didn't take this course with and waited to take it in summer. don't even think of taking a class with david.
Has good intentions but his attitude about expecting us to fail or cheat really doesn't help. Lectures are all over the place and very hard to decipher. I learned more from a 10-min Youtube video than a week's worth of his classes. Assignments start off easy but they eventually reach a point where they become ridiculously difficult or complicated.
can't even explain instructions properly, everything on culearn is unorganized, he doesn't know how to teach. Also, he's assignments are super hard
THIS IS THE WORST PROFESSOR, THAT I EVEN ENCOUNTERED IN MY LIFE. Labs are mandatory to do with the day that all your assignments are due. Assignments are everyweek without any of them being dropped. He loves to torture students, Doesnt care about anyone except himself, no cap. I know more about his life then I understood about the course.
Does very little to actually teach the material he expects you to use on the assignments. Just take the course over the summer with a different professor if you want to pass.
Gives at least 2 assignments each week, hard to reach, minimal explanation, overall just not a helpful prof:/
WORST PROF EVER! Has the biggest ego as he'll never take the blame for students doing poorly when he doesn't know how to teach. Lectures make no sense, he always rambles off into some dumb stuff about how he worked at Google. Always compares our work to what he had to do at Google. WE DON'T CARE! Probably got fired from there anyways.
Cares more about cheating over actually teaching the course. Loves to say "I'm gonna catch you". Gives assignment every week that take hours and kill you mentally. Not to mention these assignments are only worth 3% each, I can finish an assignment worth 25% in another course faster than it takes to do his assignments. Take the class in the summer.
Really tough grader, wouldnt recommend this professor.
His assignments are ridiculously hard. Help needed. Even with the TAs help and asking the teacher questions I am lost. Lectures are long and unhelpful.
To be fair, David Sprague is very passionate about programming and tries his best to engage with students. However, his classes have no structure, the assignments are very random and difficult, and the exams are also extremely difficult. He is honestly one of the worst profs I've ever had... maybe even the worst.
He knows his stuff, but he has no idea how to scale to his students' knowledge level. Unorganized. Assignments are very difficult and time-consuming, so are tests. Makes online tests very hard because he thinks it will prevent cheating. Dismisses a lot of the feedback he gets. Take the summer course if you can -- usually taught by a different prof.
Legit only doing this class cause SAT is a thing. Hardest prof ive ever had from assignments to exams to his lectures are straight up cancer. Pls take it in the summer if You cant SAT this course. I dont think i will ever enjoy programming after this, and will have to learn all my stuff by myself in the summer :/
I've never watched a full lecture video he's made, just skimming them to find relevant info, and I'm doing exceptionally well - that said, I'm also really working for it on the assignments... unless it's one of the few that hand-holds and does it FOR you. Either you learn by doing, or by watching somebody else's videos. Skip if possible.
I wouldn't recommend this prof to any of the students who are gonna take the course. David is unorganized and the course contents are unstructured. He knows how to code but he has no idea how to teach it. Take the course in summer if you can, there will be another prof who teaches the course. Otherwise, you're gonna self study programming.
Assignments take way too much time considering they are barely worth anything. Midterm was impossible and half the people dropped the class after that. Cares about cheating way more than teaching, I'm sure the Dean is tired of the same prof making reports over and over again. He ruined my university experience.
Gives multi-part lectures that take hours to go through that explain concepts very poorly. Assignment instructions are unclear and exceptionally long. Cares more about cheating than actually teaching.
Had previous years of programming experience. The first couple of assignments were fair until it got to the point where the assignments were ridiculously difficult. He holds live lectures for help but that's helpless when the exams and assignments reach an obscure level of difficulty. Makes exams so hard because he is so concerned about cheating.
Lectures are a waste of time. Basically a self-study course where you just hand in the lab and assignment each week. Also has an ego for some reason. Just take the class in summer with a different Prof if you can't SAT with Sprague.
David is the worst professor I had and probably will ever have. He has the most useless lectures and teaches you the history of coding rather than the language itself. He always goes on tangents and strays from material. He is also the worst grader and is so extremely rude and clearly does not care about his student's education and future.
David Sprague, what a guy. He is one of... the worst professors I've ever had in my life. He doesn't teach to his students, he teaches for himself. If you want help, look further cause you won't get it from him. The lectures don't prepare you enough for what he includes in your assignment. Do your existence a favor and never ever take Sprague!
David Sprague challenges students with an already difficult subject and throws them into a pitfall with inconsistent lectures that rarely have any relevance to the heavily graded assignments and tests.
Excruciatingly boring lectures that are impossible to take notes on because he uses a different slide deck than the one he provides you and aimlessly skips between slides with no regard. Worst attitude out of any post-secondary faculty member and absolutely nothing is his fault when things go wrong. I have nightmares about this professor.
Class is absolutely falling apart. Assignment instructions are very unclear, no idea how were expected to pass. This class will ruin the name Maria for you. MariaDB is the bane of every students existence as it never works, and you cant do anything but watch your grade slowly drop as the days pass.
Absolute mess and anxiety and pressure is how to describe this course. He hands out things without reading it twice, has impossible installations he made us download 10 times, has mistakes in his own tutorial codes that are each 200 lines that we gotta debug for him. Lectures are useless. Assignments are huge and hard but worth nothing.
David Sprague is a very nice guy and is a great programmer however he is a terrible professor. He always says he is trying to make lives easier but in the end just makes it so hard you want to die. He should've stuck with his job at google instead of becoming a professor to ruin programming for students who have taken this class respectfully.
Course is absolutely disorganized. Every slideshow/ instruction for an assignment, tutorial, or lecture needed updating due to mistakes. Assignments are way too time consuming since the tutorials and class material rarely prepare you for them. The huge amount of time spent on assignments is nowhere near worth it due to their low grade weightings.
Let me just start off by saying that 90% of the reviews here are probably written by people who didn't DO THE LABS and CHEATED on tests. Sprague is extremely interesting, and yes the material can be challenging for those who are completely new to programming, but the assignments really help and he's very easy to get in touch with. Don't cheat...
I was not going to write a review, but since Sprague decided to pop in here to give himself a review, I feel obligated to give my 2 cents. Sprague is a terrible professor. He is a detriment to student's mental-health and he is unable to have any form of introspection to realize how toxic he is. I switched programs because of him.
Sprague's bad reviews all the way from 2020 and onward still apply to the Sprague of 2022. He's not willing to change because he doesn't think that what he's doing is wrong - a terrible flaw on his part. My condolences if you're a beginner in programming and/or mentally struggling.
Honestly, I gave this professor a zero on every category on his evaluation but it seems that Carleton doesn't care about evaluation at all. He complicates slides even though they are easy to read, I stopped attending his classes because I would rather teach myself than him confuse me. AGAIN IF IT AINT MANDATORY PLEASE DON'T TAKE ANY OF HIS COURSES.
Difficult course because the instructor is bad........
at the time (1st year) people were complaining from difficulty and that sort of thing. but progressing further into university yes Sprague's courses had a bit of challenge but they were really high quality both in what was provided and the results of how much was learned, 5 stars.
When Sprague said "I don't agree with closed-book exams in programming because there is no point memorising this stuff" I knew he was the one. Finally, a programming professor that thinks about their course. With that said, assignments can be disorienting and he tries too hard to prevent cheating. I still back him as a prof, though.
It is quite sad that the prof has resorted to writing his own reviews to boost his score. In all honesty it is not a course that is impossible to pass, rather it's possible to do quite well but usually if you are already a programmer. Try taking a few basic courses online and becoming familiar with some of the basic concepts early Hope this helps!
His classes are terrible. Organization does not exist in his world and he spends 15 minutes talking about nothing and thinks he's god. I can't believe he's still a prof. Please don't take his courses. Sincerely, someone who has managed to escape.
Probably one of the worst professors I've ever had. His classes are terrible, hardly talks about anything related to what we need to know. Basic programming tutorials are more useful than this guy, I just don't know why he's there half the time cause he's absolutely useless. He goes on to make exams difficult when he clearly hasn't prepared us.
Incoherent, ambiguous and contradictory: he bans the use of C++ in our C code, but the textbook he recommends in the course outline is a C++ textbook; "[the labs] prepare for the weekly assignment" but Lab03 required knowledge of arrays (a Lab08 topic) to complete; hieroglyphic scriptures are easier to understand than his assignment instructions.
Enthusiastic and engaging during lectures, but workload is a disaster. Hieroglyphic weekly assignments are really hard to follow and even harder without prior knowledge in programming. Criteria breakdown is at least clear though. Tests/midterm will induce a heart attack with the questions-to-time given ratio, but the exam was relatively reasonable.
Very entertaining during lectures, but easily discouraged when there is a lack of student participation. His lectures are disorganized, jumping from one thing to another. He constantly needed to correct himself on slideshows and lecture material because he copied and pasted it from another course he teaches.
Boasts about how many students he gives academic strikes too and how he makes sure he follows through on them, this would be fine if he didnt give strikes for no reason. Had a false strike on my exam for six months just for it to get dismissed by the dean. If you can take this course with anyone else I strongly recommend you do so.
I've heard that Sprague has put disclaimers on his slides now saying that his bad reviews are from one student who got mad. As someone who has heard countless complaints about him from other students I find this hilarious. I even noticed someone else had a CU eng sweater on the train and the very first thing we bonded over was how awful sprague was
The TAs were the only reason I did well in this class. Now that I am more than half way through my program, I can definitely say that Sprague overcomplicated things. I understand that he is heavy on no cheating, but it got to the point where he would be talking way more about academic violation than he did about course materials.
Professor Sprague is a decent prof, I just wish his lectures were more geared towards the assignments. I haven't attended all of his tutorials but I wish I did, its definitely the way to pass his courses. The office hours really help, every time I go he answers all my questions, I pretty much have a eureka moment every time.
I generally enjoyed Sprague's Course. Sprague is amicable and knowledgable. Office hours are very helpful, accessible outside class. As for criticisms, the discrepancies of prof marks, often incorrect TA marks, and overall tough marks + assignments made life hard. Reviews != class experience, don't skip labs/lectures, It's gonna get worse. 3.5
Terrible prof
He is very bad at teaching in general and does not care at all for his students.
Dude can't even teach properly and always accuses students of cheating when nobody even cheats.
Professor Sprague is a great prof. He's high energy, which might throw some people off, but I found it made lectures more interesting. If you show up every day, do the labs, and assignments, you'll be able to do the exams no problem. Prof Sprague gives clear instructions for all work, and grades based on the following of those instructions.
Do not take this course with Sprague if you want to learn and pass.
He's so bad at teaching programming.
Dickhead
Avoid him. Take any course he teaches in the summer for your mental well-being.
David's lectures are extremely unengaging for those who have taken a programming class before, and really hard to follow for those who haven't. He seems to care more about finding ways to trip people up and take away marks than teaching them programming. He also has a weird obsession with cheating that disrupts everything we have to do.
You will learn more from watching 4 hour programming YouTube videos than you ever will from David.
he's not serious, the class is a joke, almost half the class dropped it before the final exam
unapproachable and unengaging lectures
I'd rather watch a snail crawl through drying cement than hear this guy yap once more.
you are a smart man however this profession is not for you. People can be incredible in their field but unqualified as teachers. Your lectures bounce from topic to topic as new thoughts pop into your head, you boast about people failing your exams as if its not a reflection on your ability to teach. Shame on carleton for ignoring these reviews.
AFTER his lecture, he sent us an email stating that he caught Covid and that he had a suspicion of it when he woke up, but decided to tough it out!! He asks that we all get tested. EXCUSE ME?? Sir, I dare you to use some common sense. 2 DAYS LATER I GOT TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID. I HEAR HE'S ONLY THERE BECAUSE HE HAS CONNECTIONS WITH THE SCHOOL
Classes are pointless, attend for the participation marks. He should not be teaching IMD4008 his lack of knowledge on the content is apparent, truly he should be a student in the class not teaching it, he would probably be failing the class too. Hopefully after this year he never "teaches" the class again for everyone's sanity!
Attending his class is useless except for his random on-paper quizzes. He does not know how to teach the course i learned everything i needed to know on my own because i could not stand his teaching. He brags about how many students fail his course and the difficulty/ subject matter of his tests are more advanced than he prepares the students for.
This guy is the worst instructor I have had in my 19 years of living. He loves to brag about working at Google and his failure rate and to scream at students during exams. He does random quizzes that he tells the answers to anyway but if you're not at the lecture or if you go to the bathroom during the random quiz, you will LOSE 5%.
If you guys ever feel like you have no self-respect. Then by all means take this guy as your prof for your class. He is literally the worst prof to ever have. Just try to take this course in the summer if you can save your sanity.
The only thing I could remember from his class is he kept telling us that how many students that he failed. I know nothing about programming beforehand, and if you are like me trying to understand it from his lectures, I would say you better learn from YouTube videos before taking this course, or avoid him. He is the reason I hate programming
I genuinely cant do this anymore. I dont know about everyone else but I want to make it known that Sprague might be one of the worst profs at carleton. im not even sure you can call him that. Some people have it inthem that they can teach. He. Does. Not. If you try to learn from his leactures, just start applying for the summer course honestly.
AVOID THIS GUY AT ALL COST. THE WORST PROF I EVER HAD. PLEASE SAVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH FROM THIS GUY ITS NOT WORTH IT. TAKE IT DURING THE SUMMER.
I don't think he was a bad professor but I don't think he was great either. Getting through this course was much easier with prior knowledge, without, probably not so. It's not a lot of work but it's poorly written and hard to follow. The exam felt unprofessional, filled with typos. The lectures were OK, at least. The labs were the worst part.
what a terrible dreadful teacher doesn't know how to teach hope to never see him again.
i rly should have listened to the people who told me before taking his class, "do it in the summer instead, your gonna fail if you have sprague"
If you care about your mental well being and actually want to learn how to code, please do not take his course.
He is an excellent programmer, but teaching is not his domain. His lectures are very hard for novice programmers to follow, as he assumes that you know the basics. The most confusing part is this debilitating and useless obsession over cheating. It gets to the point where it becomes a waste of time in lectures and he goes off on tangents about it.
Weird obsession with cheating, seems to take pride in how many academic integrity reports he files. Assignments can be difficult and long, especially so for students who have never coded before. Save your sanity and just take this course with anyone else.
This guy just posted a fake review on himself gassing up on how he is a good prof on February 1st 2024 and then quickly took it down since it was way too obvious that it was him who posted it. Please take this class in the summer instead to save your sanity and mental wellbeing.
David Sprague is the best teacher. Great lecturer and assignments were easy
Please save yourself and take the class in the summer. Worst prof I ever had.
Aside from the fact that he's very hard to listen to, he's also just rude. He has this weird pride in the fact that his class is difficult, and he always brings up cheating. He will tell you to code in a specific way, or else he'll potentially flag you for plagiarism, even if the method you used is used by almost everyone online. Avoid his class.
I think he's a nice guy, but, I really don't like his assignments and I hate his lectures.
Stain on the BiT department and convinced he became a prof just to be a ....... towards his students, for zero reasons. I can see a number of reasons as to why he wasn't kept around at Google, including his inability to empathize with normal people, such as students, and likely any other human being.
Came into this class cherishing life, nature, and the beauty of all things, but David Sprague striped it away. Don't get me wrong, he does his job. But was it really his job to steal my passion and make me endure unbearable suffering? For I was once a kid in a crown, 'til David Sprague turned my world upside down.
Amazing prof :)
My main issue was the confusing wordiness of the assignments/tests. It makes it hard to learn. His lectures are somewhat disorganized too compared to other professors. The exam was unreasonably difficult imo and he gives very little to work with when it comes to exam review. Maybe his teaching works for somebody? But not for most.
Please save yourself and take any course he teaches in the summer, you might've been naive like me and told yourself that everyone is being dramatic, but they are NOT, he was the main cause of my anxiety i kid you not. I don't like saying mean things about people, he seems like a somewhat decent guy but teaching is not for him. AT ALL.
Sprague is the epitome of academic sadism. His idea of teaching is to make you feel like a medieval peasant begging for morsels of knowledge from a tyrannical lord. You'll leave his class not just demoralized but questioning your entire existence and whether you're even cut out for education. Avoid at all costs I REPEAT AVOID AT ALL COSTS
I will say I'm glad we had so many assignments so it kept my grade up. I wish I'd listened & taken it in the summer, fix errors in ur; assignments, exams & brightspace. I don't pay towards ur $106638.47 (2022) salary so that u don't even bother to proof read ur assignments/exams :| He has unengaging lectures that didn't seem planned & v hard exams.
He should be cited for regular integrity violation because he cites people for cheating like he gives Halloween candy to children. If Sprague was a function he would return NULL because you would get nothing if you pass in anything. The only thing I learned from him was that I need a pointer to a new prof and he needs a pointer to a new career.
This professor takes pleasure in catching students cheating but fails to acknowledge his own personal flaws. He uses slides and lab assignments from other professors, rephrasing them slightly by making the instructions much more complicated. This can be a form of academic integrity too but unfortunately he obviously fails to recognize that.
He seems to only care about cheating. I didn't like his teaching style. if you are a beginner in coding he is not helpful in that cause he doesn't teach how to code. your mark relies on the exam a lot if you don't pass the exam you will not pass the course. He always says that
His class was purposely made to fail students just for his pleasure. He made a rule that if you fail his final exam then you fail the whole course. He made the students make their exam review and then he put some other things on the exam that were not properly covered in the exam due to him not making the exam review himself.
His class is terrible and impossible to pass unless you're his pet. I got an A+ when I took this course in the summer by a different professor. Save your tuition money and take it in the summer.
Prof has extreme superiority complex and only focuses on catching cheaters rather than properly teaching the course materials to his students. Assignments are poorly written and instruction tasks are overly complicated.
What a headache of a person. He absolutely forbids any C++ code to be used in work but includes C++ code in his slides. Him and his assignment instructions both go on exhausting and confusing tangents. You can succeed in this course if you have prior coding experience/are willing to self learn, but Sprague's contributions as a prof are a let down.
This prof will not teach you anything about programming, he Is all over the place in his lectures when explaining how to code. His assignments are old school and do not teach you how to code. He will make you hate programming, take my opinion and take it online in the summer, it's much better and you will do well.
If you have this prof get ready to no life because he doesn't teach what he grades and his tests are made to make people fail. You'll probably learn more by yourself than the actual class. If you don't want to no life the class take it during the summer.
Take the class in the summer.
His lectures usually involve him half explain topics with analogies that don't make sense. Then, for the assignments, your expected to effectively teach yourself the entire language and libraries he wants you to use. Has an insane obsession with cheating. Read the other reviews, and you'll be delighted to find out hes getting raises. Check sunshine
He is a great teacher that takes his time delving into relevant examples and details that help you learn
If you think his class is hard, Google David's Beer Call Archive. It's so hilarious.
The assignments the instructions will take you longer to understand than actually coding it. Lectures are horrible for beginner programmers in my opinion his class is set up to fail people who have not coded before.
streets are saying he gets a raise with each student he fails. In all seriousness this class is incredibly draining with hieroglyphic instructions, unclear exam questions and a whole lot of bs. Good luck to anyone in this class.
He cares more about if someone is cheating or not rather than teaching. Assignment instructions are soo trash and he doesn't even care to help students understand. Dumb rule that if you fail the final you fail the course, had 80+ in the course but got 45 on the final so he failed me. Drop the course and take in summer, save your money and time.
He is obsessed with catching cheaters and his TAs are no help if you have problems. Not to mention the wording for assignments and labs are god aweful and you get dinged a tone for not having enough code comments
Lads, take this in the summer if you can! Unless you have prior knowledge, it's gonna be rough. The TA's are useless, and the prof cares more about catching cheaters than actually teaching. Plus, if you do well in the course but bomb the exam, you're cooked.
This professor's lectures are full of metaphors and wasted time making learning impossible.Labs require tasks never taught and assignments are unclear.Even TAs struggle to help.He blames students but the real issue is his teaching.If you have anxiety or no coding experience avoid this class its frustrating, confusing, and anything but introductory.
Worst prof at Carleton.
PLEASE GET RID OF HIM, LORD HELP ME
The course itself isn't bad, but the professor lacks passion for teaching, which really affects how well the material is communicated. Half the time, it's a struggle to understand what he's trying to say, especially when it comes to assignments. please for the love of God, take it in the summer instead
Im at the end of this term and i think i can finally make an honest review on David (this is gonna be a few parts since RMP has limited writing). David is very dedicated to his job, he seems to love coding in general and is honestly really good at it (no glaze). However, he has a few flaws when it comes to his skills as a university professor...
I didn't wear my seatbelt driving to school because i wanted to die before going to his lectures.
(Part1) His lectures are okay, he is very engaging with the class, like giving us quizzes. However, the way he teaches is pretty extreme for an "introduction" course of the material. He includes C++ code in them but he forbids us from using it, and can give the students a lack of motivation when he tells us about how challenging he/the work is.
(Part2) His assignments/labs are probably the worst for me. The labs werent too bad, the ta's would help me out a lot with the labs(it doesnt feel like im talking to someone with a superiority complex). For his assignments, it's the way they are written that makes them hard. He overcomplicates them when they shouldnt be, same goes for his exams....
(Part3) His exams are the worst, failing the final(worth only 30%) u fail the whole class. He does this to catch cheaters(fair) but for the students that are actually trying and have a shitty exam is gets to a point. Everything relies on the final, its also kind of unfair that you can do bad all semester, pass the final, but still fail the course??
(Part4) Overall, David isnt a good "intro" professor, if i had him in the later years with prior knowledge to what he's teaching i think i would of had a much better time with him. He seems like a very nice guy, but his ego is a pain to deal with. He should work on the way he teaches, writing questions, and maybe rethink about his final exam rule.
horrible he has no clue how to format test or assignments its like reading a dictionary. Its harder to figure out what he is asking you to do than actually doing it.
Don't take this class if you want to pass. The instructor focuses more on failing students than helping them succeed. He doesn't accept criticism, talks about himself too much, and provides useless mock exams. The class notes are bad, since there barely anything on it, and he jumps between random topics, making it hard to follow.
This class made me want to switch my degree. Lectures are impossible to follow and he spends more time bragging about his genius family instead of teaching the actual class. Good luck...
At first I was confused why he had such a low rating on here because he seemed nice but I soon realized why. He is incapable of writing clear and simple instructions for the assignments and exams, and instead over complicates the question for no reason. I spend half the time just trying to decode the question and figure out what he's asking for.
he talks to much about himself and his family than actually helping you
I mostly enjoyed this class. Definitely lots of homework (typically he'll give one small assignment per week but no big assignments except midterm/final exam) and his personality can be a little intense. Def not everyone's cup of tea for sure. His class is a struggle for people with no prior Python experience.
(1)It astonishes me that people can genuinely succeed in his class. He likes to brag about his kids, noting that they spend little to no time outside and often spend their weekends coding. YIKES, wouldn't want to be your child. Constantly comparing us to his tech-savvy family.
(2) All instructions are not clear at all. And don't bother reporting him, Carleton does nothing but give him a pay raise. He IS the reason I'm switching majors. I failed his class, but literally got A's in my other Itech Courses? (no cheating or anything like chat GPT, besides using it to decode his instruction bc they are THAT unclear).
(3) Mind you, the workload isn't that bad at all. It's the actual work. The TA's are practically useless and know little to nothing about the labs (very kind though). Impossible to take notes as he likes to flip-flop between subjects that don't correlate. halfway through each lecture, you will be confused about what you're learning.
(4) You can do all the assignments correctly, all the labs, god forbid you don't do well on the exam, you fail completely. His man has no sympathy and his teaching style is all over the place his ego is annoying, and as someone said before, THIS IS NOT INTRODUCTORY TO CODING. Trust me the first week(s) are okay, but after that, you're on your own.
if you reading this. take it in the summer twin.
bottom 5 profs of all time
Give this dude a spot at the chum bucket
Hope this guy gets coal for christmas
Funny how he still leaves glowing reviews for himself. If only he put the same effort into teaching as he does hyping himself up here, maybe we would actually learn sth. The only thing that I can remember is all about he was saying how many students that he failed. I was thinking about switching program, but now thinking about quitting school
You have oppressed me, may we meet as disputants on Judgment day!
Solid prof if you know what your doing , you have to practice or else you're cooked
Unclear grading criteria, horrible lectures, all this guy does is yap. If you have him save yourself the trauma and do it in the summer
He is not caring, he is not accessible, he cant teach, all he does is fail students but thats the only thing he knows how to do. Bro cant even code to safe his wife and kids.
David is a loser!!! Everyone just point and laugh. who taught this boy? Yes i said boy bc why are you acting like a child? Removing comments like this? You're so immature. Nothing you do will change the way people see you david. Give up. You're a shell of a man.
What a man child.
Horrible, David is horrible, worst prof ever, I hope he goes home and cries.
Some times I close my eyes while driving In hopes i dont make it to his class.
I'm switching majors because of this fool, idk if that's their goal, but that's the outcome they are encouraging
His ego must be up where the sun dont shine bc he is unable to have any form of introspection to realize how toxic he is. I switched programs because of him. instead of NEEDing to remove comments he NEEDs a reality check.
he growled at me
just do all the assignments and labs and youre chilling
If you're reading this and you're this course, YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING RIGHT NOW INSTEAD OR ELSE YOU'RE COOKED. This ain't an intro to code, this is a high intermediate coding class, by the end of the course, you'll be working for google apparently. This course lowkey needs to be re-evaluated for it intro code level.
I LIKE YOU. Your lectures are ENGAGING, you're FUNNY, and you make it WORTH ATTENDING. BUT WHAT THE F ARE THESE ASSIGNMENTS AND TESTS, MY MAN?! The WORDING is SO VAGUE sometimes and NOT INTUITIVE. You write like how you speak, and maybe you haven't ever recorded yourself a lot of what you say comes off as INSANE YAMMERING. I hope your pillows warm
He makes questions that are terriblly worded. His lectures arent great. Its also unnecesarrily hard compared to other classes. Also hes also annoying
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