Best teacher I've ever taken a programming course with. Exams are multiple choice, short answer, or short programming.

Very helpful teacher. Tests are pretty much straight forward. Very helpful during labs.

Competent. Methodical. Always willing to help and encourages students. Great teacher all around.

GREAT Comp Sci Teacher. Very understanding and willing to help. Easy to work with. Gave advice to students who want to persuit into comp sci career.

There's about ten assignments throughout the course, each worth 10 points. The assignments are 30% of your grade. Six tests (of which the lowest will be dropped) counts for another 30%. Labs, which are basically assignments that the professor guides you through in class counts for 10%. The final exam counts for 30%. I recommend this teacher.

Mr. Topham is the ideal instructor: organized, prepared, structured, extremely helpful, knowledgeable, etc. He lectures to each and every student and is very helpful. The material is straight forward. Excellent instructor and an excellent role model for anyone considering to enter the teaching profession.

This is one of the "real teachers". If you want to learn from a great instructor, this is the one. Very organized, helpful, and supportive; teaches as if he is instructing each individual in the class. Do not like being called on to answer questions but it was a motivating tool for instruction...Ugh! but it was fair and direct. He taught, I learn!

Great comp sci teacher. Makes sure everyone understands the material and is very understanding.

One of the best professor I have met. Professor David possesses the art of teaching. He can address the student's problems to technical issues accurately.

Really a good professor, he is very helpful and you can learn a lot from his class. When you ask questions, you will learn something important from his answers.

I took cs116 online. I thought Mr Topham was an excellent professor. He was nice, though a little bit strict. Any make-up or a second delay was not allowed in his class. (I think it is helpful for students to form good habits, not a bad thing.) He responded to almost every question quickly and helpfully. Work hard and ask questions, then feel good.

He is a good teacher, just a bit un-organized. His lectures take up most of the class time which leaves very little time for the lab projects. He is very helpful with any porblems or questions you have.

Oops. Meant to put 5 for helpfulness (the review that has a one and a green face was one I did a minute before, dude deserves a smiling yellow one!!!). Anyway, class can get a bit boring because he is the only one talking most of the time(everyone else is scared) but as I said earlier, the almighty random name generator owns your soul for free.

Although the class wasn't very good at posing questions, you are welcome to stay after class and ask him yourself. Make sure you pay attention to the labs he does in class. Overall, I liked him, and I will be taking the next class for C++ even though comp sci isn't even my major.

Great teacher. Highly recommended!

Best teacher by far! He is very helpful and you learn a lot from his lecture. I don't know if I can get "A". But that doesn't count....

Cool and knowlegeable professor.David always does his best to help, prepared and gives you extra matirial on topics.At the same time easy grader.Take him and you'll get best output for you time and $

Pretty good teacher, but slightly unorganized and at times can seem unfair. No makeups are given on his tests so make sure you take them. This has to be a subject that you are interested in or else you will not do well because this can be a difficult class and an expansive subject matter. I'm a software engineering major so I enjoyed it, got an A.

This is an excelent and careful,helpful and organized.

This class is not going to be easy. He's really helpful if you're stuck in assignments but you have to try hard to prove him that you did your best. He's easy grader though. He gives you lots of partial credits even if you answer the question totally wrong. Best thing is that you will learn a lot in that class.

Overall, Professor Topham teaches the subject well, but can be a bit quirky at times. He may also go off on tangents, but sometimes they can be amusing. He also looks like Bill Gates.

He is EXTREMELY helpful. knows his subject very well and a great teacher. if you know a bit of programming I will strongly encourage you to take his class. you will gain a lot. if you are beginner try to learn a bit about programming before taking this class and you will do fine.

Took CS124 last semester and it was easy! Book is not required but reading the chapters = easy A! the quiz questions are word for word off the book. His lectures are kind of confusing but after hearing the lecture, then reading the book, everything clicks.

Professor is very helpful and nice. Willing to answer questions and help you on materials and labs. Fair grader. Always choose good textbook and some important techniques out of the textbook. Both code and documentation are important at this class. Very respectable teacher. He taught Processor Architecture, programming and documenting the code.

Mr. Topham is very dedicated to helping students succeed. His lectures can be confusing for people who aren't used to the material, but he is available often and always has time to help students understand the programs. It seems like he really cares that his students succeed.

By his own admission he's "always been a nerd" so his lectures can be confusing, sometimes he'll get frustrated if students don't do well on the quizzes. He'll help you out if you ask though. If you've never programmed before, do at least some c++ tutorials before starting the class. You have to work to get the grade but that's programming for you.

He teaches by immersion, I suggest you get the book as early as possible and read as much as possible as quickly as possible. Not a class for non-motivated students. The final project is building an app or game of your choice (very cool). This is not an “easy “class. Professor teaches you other languages besides c++ that are not in the book.

What most people misunderstand is that computer science is more about problem solving than knowing the language. In my opinion Topham did a fairly good job at teaching problem solving techniques. The only problem I can say is that he goes off on tangents quite often and should focus on the subject matter so things can get covered faster.

Mr. Topham teaching method was very endepth. He's very knowlegeable and very caring. He covered the fundamental of C++ thoroughly for the short summer duration. His criterias motivated students who wants to succeed learning in programming to study the subject well. The final project is hard but it reflects the really world demand in software works.

The professor was awesome.He is extremely nice and always helpful. He does curve grades at the end of the semester. It help get a B. Just be prepared to do the readings and do lots and lots of practice problems. I just think the professor needs to assign hw practice problems and also needs to do simple labs ourselves instead of just copying him.

Professor Topham is a great professor. I took his summer class and had no pressure. He tries to explain things clear enough to make everyone understand. He also tells us during class which kind of problem will be on the quizzes or final. He helps students a lot in the lab. One thing to success in this class is to read your textbook!!!

The professor is very nice and you can get an easy A in his class if you read the textbook and pay attention in his class. The final project is building a group app or a game of your own choice. He teaches you other languages besides c++ that are not in the book which will be really helpful if you are planning to take any further CS classes

Professor Topham is a great person, very helpful and proactive in the industry, know what the industry needs. I think let us doing home work is also as important as doing lab. if I can read the textbook myself, I think I don't need to attend the class. this is a defferent point I have against him.

He's a good teacher, a really nice person. But he gets lost in between the lectures in his life. lol. Quizzes aren't that hard, you just have to read the book. Random name generator is kinda okay-ish, but hits the same people. Labs are follow-along, but if you read thru it after you'll learn stuff. Taking him again for discrete! :D

He wants suggestions so here goes. I think he should take it really slowly and stop the pop quizzes. Beginners get lost in it, but he tries really hard to make students understand. Try more console first. And stop using those slides. Teach with your own stuff. But he's still really nice, so don't be afraid to approach him!

He is a great teacher, and he makes the class so easy, if you want an easy A, just take!

Topham is the best!

Topham is a very nice teacher. He has a lot of passion in teaching his students about computer science. However, there are some improvements that can be made in his teaching. He should give his students extra credit opportunities. This will help the students who struggle and are new to computer programing to still succeed and do good in his class.

Being a computer science major, I found Topham's class to be very helpful. He is an awesome teacher who comes prepared to teach his students everyday. However, I agree with the past student and sugguest that Topham should give his students some sort of extra credit. This would really help those students who are borderline in their grades to do well

He is a really nice teacher who is passionate about teaching. But I agree with the other students that he does not give any extra credit :(

Advise for doing well in his class : READ THE TEXTBOOK! and copy what he writes down on the whiteboard. All of the quiz questions comes from there. Overall, he is a very insightful teacher with a deep understanding of C++ language. He also teaches what the programming career is like and what the employers expect from you. Great Teacher :D

If you study what he tells you to study when he tells you to study it you wont have any trouble in the class or understanding what he is saying in lectures. His labs are helpful and provide good examples of how to write code. Topham completes part of the lab and leaves the rest for the students to complete in cs116. Quizzes are not bad.

Helpful Intstructor but he attempts to stuff 8 units into a 4 unit course. Be prepared to learn 5 other programs/languages and spend twice as much time on documentation as coding. Labs are great examples, though often a little to complex for the time allotted. The quizzes are simple and straightforward.

This is the only teacher for this course. He is very fair. Attend class and read the book ahead of time. And I HIGHLY suggest you do the homework he assigns. If you don't follow this sincere advice, prepare to see nothing above a C- as your final grade. He also has pop quizzes instead of midterms. So go to class every day.

Read the book and pay attention during lecture. The test will consist of things he talks in class as well as material in the book that he has not covered. I know you will see this Topham. Something that could help the class is homework. Just doing lab is not enough to learn the syntax and concepts. And update your random name generator.

Professor Topham is a good teacher with excellent teaching skill. I like his teaching style so much. He taught us according to the syllabus with clear thought. Meanwhile, he's responsible and always help to sovle the problems of questions we face to and the homework.

Professor Topham has a lot of experience/knowledge teaching this course.He is very helpful by either email or in-person.I learned a lot in this class compared to my basic skills I already had.To excel in the class, you must do your lab homework well and documentation.Rely online resources if you can't understand the book, too.

Overall good professor but it would be better if he gives some kind of extra credit assignment.

Excellent professor. The material is often abstract and difficult, but he genuinely strives to provide interesting examples and help students learn. He tells you exactly what is on the quizzes and exams. I was angry about the mandatory use of LATEX and other documentation programs during the course, but in retrospect I'm happy I learned them.

Read the book and you will do fine. All of the quizzes he does are out of the book. It is understandable to be lost and that is why there is the professor and TAs to help. And TOPHAM since you do read these , try to incorporate the concept of Big O notation. Maybe into discrete math. A lot of schools are using this ti explain algorithm complexity.

Very clear lectures and well versed in the topic(C++), also adds humor to the class which is nice. He responds very quickly to emails and will help guide you to finding an answer as opposed to giving you one. I would recommend this class to all interested in CS, but do a little studying before the class starts, some peopl were overwhelmed to begin.

Mr Topham is VERY knowledgeable and a very good professor. He is very fair in grading and does his best to allow his students to excel is his class. Although i was not a fan of using latex and other languages that are not C++ , i did learn a lot in his class. I feel like the textbook did not explain things well though -code was left out in examples

Great lecturer, makes the very technical subject of programming interesting to listen to. Asks the class a lot of questions about why C++ works like it works, bringing an inquisitive mindset to the class. CS102 students: I suggest you look up LATEX to get a head start. Stay relaxed but be prepared to stress a lot during labs even on the first day.

Mr. Topham is extremely knowledgeable and is best described as a "teacher's teacher" in that he is a classical instructor that is systematic, well prepared, speak with clarity, and follows a defined outline. He presents information from several view-points to insure all students grasp the concepts. Helpful and responsive to all levels of students.

I had Mr. Topham for 3 CS classes, including this one. Once you figure out the way he conducts class, things should be pretty smooth. There will be weekly quizzes and the final is usually worth a big chunk of your grade. Very knowledgeable, has a helping nature and isn't a harsh grader. Read ahead for his classes. I never did that which I regret.

Lectures are pretty similar to the text material, although there is sometimes stuff not mentioned in the book that is covered in class. Pop quizzes are based on the lecture material and the labs can be confusing. Final consists of multiple choice questions and writing both pseudocode and C++ code by hand.

If you're CS major, go for this class. I learned a lot from him. The workload is heavy compared to other class, but it is rewarding. Your final project will just wow your friends. Need to study a lot, and you will actually learn to code. Make friends with someone who can code for the final project or you will be overburdened in the final week.

We use a uniform interface, and most of the code is practiced in class. Our task is to internalize and use diagrams and comments to show understanding of the code. What better way to prepare for a career then being able to make documented that annotate code? Submit your labs for not just grade, but for an internship/job inteview. Enriching.

Taking comp sci with bill gates can only be destined for greatness. On a more serious note, Professor Topham sincerely cares about his students, their money, and their future. That is why he takes the long route and goes indepth into the small important stuff. I recommend studying coding to some extent before taking his class.

This class cannot be passed if you skip class even once Mostly just following along with the teacher. He's a nice guy who genuinely wants to teach his students though and you do manage to pick up a few things. Overall, this is a straightforward class. Warning: the class doesn't focus too much on C++ but it's still a good class for application. 4/5

I'm an embedded tutor for his CS102 course, and have taken Topham for multiple courses. I can say with confidence that if you try, your efforts will manifest in a good grade. He wants you to succeed. Hopefully you want the same from yourself, and will put effort into making your goals come to fruition. The only person to hold you back is yourself.

2 later and now at a UC I can say I am grateful to have taken this class although I did not pass. I learned so much from Topham even though I did not receive a desired grade. Classes outside of community college are no joke and the skills I have learned have helped me grow in this field. Pay attention, do you research and get help when you need it

Topham is a dedicated professor. His teaching style blends together a mixture of curiosity, problem solving, and new concepts in computer science. The only criticism is that he dedicates so much to his craft, that sometimes he doesn't let students take the reigns. This ends up looking like he's doing the work for you. Oh, and the jokes: brilliant.

He knows a lot, but sometimes that causes a disconnect between students who are trying to learn. He is constantly updating his class to better suit the students needs, deeply cares about his classes. Definitely take his class, don't miss any classes and make sure to work with someone. Have a positive attitude and hang on for the ride!

As a student who transfered to a UC, I would have to say that Topham's classes were exceedingly helpful for me. I espicieally enjoyed the way he did his lab, having him do a portion of it in class really furthered my knowledge and undestanding (something I wish more profs would do), and it allowed us to ask questions in that time as well.

Professor Topham is a fair person. He appreciates hard work and punishes sloppiness. His labs are a bit sporadic, but it revolves around problem solving. If you like answers handed to you on a silver platter, then this class isn't for you. Although you may not have a choice because he is the only section for 118 and 113 lol.

He really cares about his students and classes. Assembly itself is an inherently hard class, so keep that in mind. Grades in his class are truly earned, not given for free so work hard and you will be rewarded. He's not unreasonable. Overall if you as students communicate issues with him, he will gladly help and make sure everyone does well.

I took three of his classes. I think he's really a nice teacher. He is always trying to make you gain more from the class.

He is always trying to make you gain more from the class, which is so respectful. The reason I won't take his class is that I am leaving to a graduate school.

He goes through the labs with you for a large part of it, then that extra bit is up to you. As long as you show up to the labs or follow along online you're gonna get a solid A in the labs. The quiz questions are talked about thoroughly before you take it and he's very understanding when it comes to grades. Assembly sucks but he made it not so bad.

He genuinely cares about his students. He will try his best to help you gain both knowledge from the class, and of how the outside world works. He's really nice! I had him for both CS 124 and CS 118 this semester, and I can tell you he is caring. Assembly is difficult in general, but he made it better. He also gives good outside advice!

i dont understand how this teacher is rated 3.7 overall..... he is a great teacher, i would give him a 4.5 if that was available, but he is very helpful and very easy going, and he knows a lot about the subject. I recommend everyone to take him!

I've had Topham only for a few weeks, but the reviews can alter a person's view on Topham. After attending classes, he is a really caring professor and documentation is done for good reason. He took past students responses seriously, and instead of using Latex we are using Doxygen, which is very simple and fast. I've learned a lot in a few weeks.

If you are studying computer science at Ohlone to transfer to a university, I would recommend taking Topham as his teaching style mimics that of 4-year university professors. Essentially, his goal is to make you understand the concepts, not to give you information that you can regurgitate for an A and move on with your life.

Took him for the lab section of a CS102 course. Extremely clear guidelines in the criteria for assignments. Literally step by step for what is required, however; while in class his instruction was always a bit vague, I often found myself doing research outside of class in order to complete assignments.

He does get a lot of slack for being overly ambitious with the some of the labs; however, he is open to constructive feedback (not complaints) and is willing to listen to why a lab was difficult. He would even try his best to adjust to match the skill level of the students. Overall he is a genuinely nice professor, who is willing to help.

Topham is a caring and very knowledgeable professor The labs do get harder, but if you need help just ask, he will help and try to help you understand This semester he also dropped the lowest lab score, and curved the group project Honestly, I think he is a really fair professor and if you don't think something is fair talk to him he'll consider it

I have taken 4 courses with prof Topham. His passion for teaching is really admirable. Although I didnt always agree with his methods of teachings but I always knew that he gave his best to teach the class. He has improved greatly and tries to be more clear and understanding of student. I learned a lot from him.

If you want a teacher who knows the material and tries to help you get the most out of the subject - this is your class. If you are just taking this subject to check off a box and want something easy, you will choke and die in this class. He is bad at setting realistic expectations, but in the end, if you make it through you will learn a lot.

Professor Topham has gone far out of his way for his students, but at the same time balances being strict and demanding as well. He is eccentric and uses unique approaches to the courses, don't skip class unless you have someone taking notes for you. Use piazza polls to democratically express points the class may struggle with, and he will listen

This is late but I took his CS102 Summer of 2017 and he was not that bad, I don't understand what the problem of using old books are when they are relevant and he tries his best to help everyone.

Great guy, pretty intelligent as well. I'd say the hardest thing to get use to is his spontaneous when it comes to the course direction. He's also really lenient when it comes to grading, but don't think you'll get in ANY late assignments in. Stick to doing his labs on time/correctly and studying for the weekly quizzes and you'll get an A or B.

He is definitely one of the smartest professors I've had, and is always willing to help. Having said that, he gives you about 70% of the lab and expects you to complete the final 30% but it is a lot harder than you think. He could do a better job explaining his source code. Labs were due every 2 weeks. Fair grader as long as you follow his rubric.

Topham is a unique professor. He is very insistent on giving work that cannot be done with shortcuts. His work will take a couple hours, but if you put them in you will get an A.

If you are looking through his reviews, and are getting disheartened by all these negative ones, don't worry. He's really not that bad. In the end, if you pay attention, Prof. Topham is a really great professor. He grades very fairly (and easily) and is super caring and makes and effort to help if you're struggling. Just don't skip the quizzes!

David is a great Professor. I was afraid to take his class at first because of other worse reviews about his quality. However, I took two classes with him. He cares about his students. If you don't get good grades in quizzes, it 's because you don't study. Spend time to start the lab early, don't do it in the last minus because it won't work.

David has been my favorite professor during my time at Ohlone. His grading is clear and fair. His labs tell you exactly what you're expected to do. Take notes during lectures and TAKE THE TIME to practice the material, and you will be fine. In addition to the course content, he teaches useful tools that you might use in your future academic career.

Professor Topham is actually a really good professor, once you stand back and look. He does use some unconventional methods for his homework, but theres not a lot of it, and he goes over it fairly well in class. His quizzes are very clear and concise and he is an extremely fair grader, which makes it easy to succeed if you put in the effort.

David is a fair grader, lectures are usually okay, and he has an amicable personality. There are weekly quizzes to encourage you to read the textbook. The labs are not difficult but he requires that you document your code - not just for his understanding of your work, but for yours too! Don't be afraid to ask for help from classmates.

It's true that he's not the best lecturer and his assignments are difficult at times, but his classes are very manageable if you put in the time to actually study for his tests (straight from the text!) and start on the homework as soon as he announces them instead of waiting until the last second, which I suspect many past reviewers have done.

I have taken 3 classes with Topham: CS118, CS124, CS 113. CS 113 was the easiest, then CS124, then CS118. CS113 you dont do much coding and most of the time you just write documents and do some math. CS124 is about data structure and algorithms, pretty tough. CS118, difficult through the roof. Check my next review i run out of space.

Continue from my last review. All of Topham' class requires writing code and doing documents on a VIRTUAL MACHINE. Took most people around 2 weeks to get used to using it. Make sure you record his lab's lecture so you know what he's doing with the Virtual Machine. A lot of ppl dont know how to use it and fail the assignments. Continue ......

Cs 118 is very hard and you have to read the textbook a lot and understand the subject to be able to write programs and pass this class. CS 124, most of the time you fix the code in the textbook, but Topham come up with really weird assignment ideas (ex: converting music notation to a real song). ASK HIM QUESTIONS IF YOU GET STUCK, THATS HOW I PASS

His quizzes are easy so do not miss on those. PLEASE RECORD, RECORD, RECORD THE LABS because TOPHAM TEACHES VERY FAST. I usually sit in the back row and barely understand anything he said in the lab hours so I often have to talk to him after class to figure our what hes been doing (every week). His grading is EASY. Do all the work, get full points.

What I did when taking his classes and how I got an A: Study the previous lecture on the bus for pop quiz. Barely understand anything during lab hours. Got hecking confused. Ask questions at the end of class. Ask questions on piazza. Read the textbook. Kind of figured out. Spent hours coding. Got errors. Ask questions on piazza. Write long document

He taught things not really on topics. It seemed that he had limited knowledge on the programs he was using, because he was constantly googling about everything. Be prepared for LaTeX and FLTK. Labs were done in a virtual machine. Record his labs and watch the videos while coding at home. He was also willing to answer questions on piazza. Good luck

About to graduate from a University. Come back just to write a review for this guy. Topham is a very caring professor. Lectures are helpful but not Lab and assignments. LAB is basically typing class and very fast. So, before taking his class, you should practice typing first. TYPING TUTOR recommended.

I am surprised to see so many students give him a negative rating when in actuality he is a very patient and articulate professor. His class is honestly better than most other professors in the cs department. He is very helpful and furthermore very clear about the requirements. Sure he is a tad bit old school but very knowledgeable and kind.

After transferring from Ohlone to a 4 year and taking upper divs, I really appreciated Professor Topham's hardcore documentation, as it prepared me for an in-depth level of understand that is at expected at the University level. If you want a taste of University, take his class, put in the time and learn why things are the way they are.

The class was very manageable. He goes a bit fast with the labs. Since they're in SML, you need to pay attention, ask him questions/to slow down, and if needed, take a screen video while he shows you how to do the labs. Quiz/final questions from the txtbook. No midterm. The grading was 40% final, 30%quizzes, 30%labs. Glad I took 113 with this prof.

Honestly, Professor Topham was a decent professor. I could see that he really put effort into engaging his students in lectures. I think the main issue is that the material we were covering seemed far more difficult than it should have been. You definitely have to work hard in this class for an A, but it is very doable.

Just do your work and you should be fine in the class. He's a good teacher, just pay attention and do your part and you should be fine.

Professor Topham really cares that his students learn as much as they can within their capabilities. His quizzes might seem hard at first but he gives so much partial credit that it's impossible to not get A's on them if you study and have the book open while taking the quiz. His quizzes basically copy things you read in the textbook so it's easy.

I took Topham for all my CS classes and while I struggled to pass, I found him to be a very caring instructor, which made up for his admittedly poor teaching. Despite that, I learned a lot from his classes. Patient almost to a fault, the majority of the reviews that are negative are from people entirely unwilling to put in effort or reach out.