3.5
Quality3.1
Difficulty55%
Would Retake244
Reviews55%
Would Retake
244
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
108
4
38
3
29
2
19
1
50
What Students Say
“Even when we did bad on the midterm, she was very receptive and helped us improve”
CMPT120 - 5.0 rating“Diana isn't HORRIBLE necessarily, but she's definitely not great and has faults”
CMPT120 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
26%
Textbook Required
53%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.05 avg changeRatings by Course
CMPT150
4.8
(8)CMPT165
4.5
(4)MACM101
4.5
(11)CMPT310
4.2
(6)CMPT125
4.0
(20)Difficulty by Course
MACM101CMPT150
5.0
120
3.5
CMPT120
3.3
CMPT126
2.8
CMPT125
2.8
Reviews (244)
Great Prof.
Very well thought out teaching style. Provided a broad background of the subject and used many invited speakers to compliment her lectures. One of the best CMPT profs at SFU!
She's a nice prof... but i personally dont understand a thing she teaches... maybe it's her teaching style... or maybe it's mine learning style... when she was tryin to teach conversion of binary... i was very confused... even tho it's SUPPOSE to be very simple... (i know it's simple since i learned it in High Scool) when she taught it. not simple
Good prof. Very easy to understand.
why doesn't she post all assignment solution on webpage?!?! so inconvenient to go to her office board and check. anyways, she "looks" trying hard to teach. Her notes are very messy.
She gave me a good first impression, but when the course goes on, I feel disappointed. also, midterm 2 was hard!
She's a very nice prof. Her notes are decent, and the assignments/exams were straightforward (no surprises).
She is a pretty good prof but she often isnt overly clear in her explanations in lectures. I found the class quite fun (surprising considerin its math) as she has an good teaching style involving watchin movies, playing games, and cracking jokes. The assignments and readings aren't too bad if you keep up with everything. Overall one of my favorites
Simply one of the best. I have never had a Proff that i actually felt that they wanted me to do good. she is super nice and attentive. the material is hard but she ellaborates it very well. exams are a bit tight on time but very fair! in total - my favorite!
A wonderful human being, but not a prof!! Lack of language, knows only one single way, pointless bonus marks, late marking (we got some of our marks after the final!!) and worst of all the time issue for her exams, and many more. Most of the she confuses you even more, rather than helping. If you already know java by heart, take it!!
I agree, for CMPT 125, she didn't do a good job. I had MACM with her before, that was alright. But not this course
Her first time teaching this course, so she was often very confusing. She mentioned it'll be better next time...
She is very clear and very nice. The Assignments may appear difficult,but the midterm and final are way easier than the assignments...
Wow what an excellent prof. She will wake up at 3 am just to email everyone helpful tips to finishing assignments. The assignments are fair and well spaced out through the term. Her teaching method is good and I learned lots from the course. I recommend taking macm with her.
helpful and friendly. her lectures seemed somewhat chaotic though.
Wonderful prof. She's obviously very excited and passionate about her work. She's very knowlegbe, at least on the subject of JAVA, and easily accessible for help. She's also quite understanding and leanient on handing in assingments.
No question she is a nice prof. No question she is passionate. However, if you are taking CMPT 310 (AI), DO NOT TAKE IT WITH HER. You do not learn ANYTHING in the class. She spent half of the semester teaching PROLOG, and doesn't get to some AI programming until the end of the semester. A waste of time and money.
a really nice prof. unlike most University ppl who are filled w/ themselves & their authority, she is very real; the type of person that just loves constant learning & gaining deep insights. she is also passionate w/ teaching the course & imparting her understanding to us.
She really cares about what she's teaching, and she's clear about it. The course is very easy, most-of-which is because she does a solid lecture. There are times when the course drags, though.
She has lovely smile. Unlike other Profs, she's always for extra office hour and extra help.
Diana's very nice (she even told us she would not be offended if we fell asleep in her class). Unfortunately when she taught us 310 it ended up covering almost entirely Prolog and she gave maybe 30 minutes each to some other fundamental AI like neural networks.
definitely a nice prof. cares about students + mark easy
The model professor. Clear, concise, and super nice! I failed first midterm, but after talking to Diana and listening to her lectures everything became crystal clear. I ended up getting B+.
She's really helpful and teaches the material well enough for beginners to understand. Highly recommended for anyone who needs to take CMPT classes.
I love her! very clear teaching, but too many projects killed our time and effort... Midterms are fair
HAHA, A LOT OF FUN
She was a great prof to have, very helpful and clear notes. Exams were fair. Assignments were a bit long but she explains material well enough for you to do a decent job.
She's awesome with her hilarious Uruguayan accent! Great professor, especially for such an unpleasant subject.
Great prof, really connects with the students in class. notes are a bit messy and sometimes makes some mistakes but tells us right away via email. labs aren't too difficult, assignments are long and require some time but definitely doable. MT was fair. offers lots of help for students. definitely recommended
dont take her class....just listen to me...too much work to do...
Very fun and easy teacher. Midterms are easy as long you understand the material. Two large projects took alot of time, but very manageable. Great lectures, and you can tell that she cares for the students very much. Overall, great professor
She's really cool. At first I thought lectures were a waste of time, but afterwards I realized how much effort she put into it and started going. She's clearly very helpful and cares about students. Always looking out for students (eg extensions)
well, she is a super nice prof who really CARES about her students,,the lab exercises are important and relevant to midterms and projects. the only problem is that people who are good at programming will absolutely do well while those who are not familiar with coding will be suffering for a while,,Overall, the prof is excellent!!
Great, energetic prof, very interesting to listen to in lecture. If she notices the class is tired, she'll get everyone to get up and stretch! She clearly cares a lot about her students. Go to lectures, pay attention, try new things. Even with no prior programming experience I still got an A+ entering the final.
Great prof! Very friend and helpful.
Like others have said, a very nice prof. Looks out for her students. An easy course for those with programming experience, otherwise, it can be hard for beginners.
uh...if u do your homework and kinda listen, you will do well. Otherwise if u slack off, you are hopeless because she can only help so many people and the ta's only help girls. Got tricky when project one came out of nowhere.
This course is really hard if you have no prior programming experience. Prof is good but assignments/projects are tricky. TAs do not give you enough attention.
Diana is by far one of the best profs I've had thus far at SFU. Like others have said, the course can be challenging for people with no programming experience, but Diana is always willing to help her students. She emails the class regularly in case people have missed lecture, which is quite handy. Cares greatly for her students.
Diana is a VERY POOR prof. She is very enthusiastic but she is absolutely useless in lectures. She doens't teach you any of the material you need to the lab, and then once you've taught it to yourself in the lab, she goes over it with you. WTF. How bout you teach us sumthing BEFORE we need to use it in a lab. Her music is really irritating too.
She is always talking the most easy knowledge for students, but the project, the exam, and the assignment are really(most) hard that you will do not understand. She can not help you anything. And The final is too long and too hard which you do not have enough time to final. In all, She is bad that I think she must change the job.
One of the best ComSci profs there is. The thing that stands out most is her genuine care for her students. She will teach you until you understand it. Take any course with her if you can - especially in the 100 and 200 level courses. She makes sure you have a good foundation for high level courses. MT and Final are fair if you do your homework.
projects are too hard too much work
THe prof was ok in 120 because I had a lot of meat sheild below me to get scaled up. But in 125 I think i'm like border lining again...with no meat shield =(. Anyways, she's just an average prof, but she let use use cheat sheets which is very helpful.
She allows cheat sheets on her tests, and is overall a very fun teacher to be with. Very easy course, yet I learned alot from her. There WILL be mini-tests every now and then, and although you don't have to attend lectures to get the material, you should still go in case of mini-tests =] Overall a really great prof
BEST CS prof imo. Allows cheat sheet, excellent online notes, great explainations, care for students, replies quick to emails. Learned ALOT from her. 2 long projects in semester, and most labs are 'exploratory'. You can partner up with a buddy to split the work for the project. MT and Final were fairly long, but really easy if you can do projects.
Nicest Prof I ever had! Got more than 100% on final exam (if a lot of ppl screw up on a question she either makes it a bonus, or omits it) Although I had programming experience, looking at her slow pace and helpfulness, I dont see why beginners should have any probz...esp if they find a smart partner for the Labs/Projs!
Do not take 126 if you have never done programming before.The course content was much harder than 120, but Diana was super helpful and caring. After bombing on the midterm and final, I still ended up with an A. The 2 projects might take a lot of time(but its easy to get perfect because of bonus points).
Good prof. Really cares about her students. Won't kill your GPA, but likely you'll have long assignments and attendance will be mandatory. Overall, I'd say her helpful-ness makes up for the work. Recommended.
Reasonable prof. What can I say? Programming is logic. If you can think logically then you are good to go. If you can complete a long assignment then you are even better off.
This prof is very friendly and easy going. loves to teach and will help all her students! on the other hand, her midterms are extremely long and hard. only a few questions but you barely have time to finish them. and her projects are super long and hard! Your basically at her office every day for help. hint: find a SMART lab parnter!!
A very friendly prof. Gives a lot of bonus marks which are worth about 0.1% each of total grade. Avoid office hours if possible because she takes forever with each student so you will not get through unless you are first in line.
great prof. very kind and helpful! LOVE HER!
She was very helpful and a nice prof. Very reasonable and takes a personal interest with students, sure she takes a long time with each individual but she makes sure you understand the material. Gives many bonus marks. Midterms/Exam was long but she acknowledges that and takes it into account when giving out grades.
She's Friendly but that's about it. She cant get her point accross the room and makes everyone look like a 2 year old child. She can't teach PERIOD.
this beach managed to act like a mother of over 100 students in the class. one of the worst and tough prof i ever had. even though you have cheat sheet, you don't even have time to look through it and it doesn't help at all. midterms are out of balance. stupid mc with more than one correct answer. wtf. wtf!! regret now...
well, having her is like having a second mom coz you would be like a 5-yr-old child in the class. although cheatsheets are allowed in midterm, you must not rely on it since questions are difficult than you assume it to be. (that means having a cheatsheet won't make you do better but may be even worse). project is very very hard. so just avoid.
She is hands down one of the most caring profs at SFU. You will see early on that she tries her best to make sure that the course flows smoothly and everything is fair and well. Her assignments and projects may be long but it's a good learning experience. Also, she gives many bonus points! She is one of my favourite profs at SFU so far.
Diana is awesome! I learned so much about java from her. An easy A+ too. Things to note: you won't be taking notes in her lectures as they are largely slides based. Don't buy the text book, You'll do just fine with her notes and stack overflow etc. Do the lab assignments and it should be a piece of cake! Truly a caring prof, one of SFU's finest.
Diana is such a helpful professor and really goes out of her way to fix any problems you have/answer questions. She posts all her slides with her writing on them so you can just listen and understand during the lectures. Cheat Sheets are allowed during tests but don't rely on them as you won't have time to find answers. Lots of bonus marks given!
Diana has to be one of the nicest, most helpful professors I have met. She really cares about how her students do and you learn a lot about Java and useful programming techniques. Class is a moderate workload and she's very accommodating when there are problems with getting assignments in. Explanations of concepts are also clear and understandable.
Diana is a Saint. "Cookie Woman", a nickname coined for her, sums her up perfectly, as she is sweet caring and devoted to her students. At first she may come off as unprofessional but she quickly makes up for it by making concepts clear and easy for everyone. I personally did not use the FREE textbook at all, but she does reference it occasionally.
Nice professor as others have said, but her email responses come off as a bit rude.
Did not understand how people like her as a cmpt prof. Sure she comes out as being wanting to teach the class but in reality class was problematic. Not having a psysical text book really threw me off. PS even if you prepare for midterm and exam you won't be prepared because its a big surprise everytime cheat sheet isn't helpful so don't make one.
Super nice prof, really has enthusiasm for the course & cares about her students. Some concepts she explains very well using slides, diagrams, human model examples, etc. At other times her explanations can lack clarity. Course may be hard to people who have no programming background, since free online textbook can be vague
An exceptionally helpful professor. Even for an introductory class, she makes it a total breeze and allows cheat sheet for the midterms/finals. Exams are fair, if you studied you will be fine. No questions out of the ordinary. Assignments tedious but very helpful and good practice. Shes super helpful even during exams! Ask her questions! Great prof
By far one of the nicest profs at SFU. If you like the holding hand, she is the one.
Nice prof but she cannot explain things clearly
She's nice, but I can't really say anything else nice about her. Doesn't teach material needed for assignments, babies the class, wastes time like you wouldn't believe. I had absolutely no programming experience prior, but it was excruciatingly slow. Google is your friend in this class. The class itself is interesting and not difficult.
She is nice person but honestly, terrible prof. She will begin each 50min lecture with a 15min explanation about what she will teach that day of which she will never fully get through, useless. The course content wasn't too bad but I found that her lack of explanation regarding assignments made them more challenging than necessary.
Great lady that's for sure, very interactive and a nice person, however, she should not be teaching, absolutely ridiculous the time she wastes in class, I would NOT recommend her as a teacher for this class.
Diana is one of the best profs to take 150 with, she is great at explaining concepts and her notes are stellar! Very easy to follow. She engages you in class (doesnt pick on people, she asks questions to engage) & her assignments/exams were helpful and fair overall (you still need to study). Very dedicated & helpful professor - highly recommend.
Diana will always take the time to explain something to you if you don't understand. She is friendly and encourages students to come to her after class if they don't understand. The i-clickers are CONSTANT and the quizzes are very confusing (write code with pen and paper- annoying) but overall the lecture notes are great and she uses good examples.
Midterm covered material that was confusing, and we were only given an hour to get through it (though she knew it was longer than the quizzes, which were also too long for a one hour period). Cheat sheets are nice, but they really don't matter too much when you're writing. They're more of a study-tool. You've got to look up a lot on your own..
Ambiguous wording and unclear exam questions. 1 hour lecture three days a week is unnecessary when it can be combined into two classes. Unorganized due dates.
She's the sweetest prof ever, always there for the students. Her lectures can be pretty confusing as she tends to jump around between subjects a lot. If you have a programming background this class is an easy A if not be prepared to really work hard to fully understand concepts. Her tests and assignments aren't too hard.
Poor explanations. Teach it yourself. Not a beginner class.
Although this was a recommended Q and B-Sci course for Art students, I really struggled in the class. The concepts were simple, but the wording and explanations confused me, especially on the tests. The tests compared to labs and assignments were too advanced. Not enough time and needed to write code on paper. She's super nice, but confusing.
I thought I will failed the course because three of my on class exams got so much lower than class average. maybe I did really good in the final, finally got B+. lab assignment + group assignment are cues to midterm & final coding part. wonderful and nice profI highly recommend her class.
Diana is a lovely person, but an awful teacher. She wastes the majority of her lectures giving dumb examples, and doesn't actually teach the material you are required to know for assignments, quizzes, and exams. Both the "quizzes" and the exams are long and confusing- be prepared to not have enough time to finish them. Frustrating course overall.
Amazing!
Diana was a great professor. Her quizzes and exams are tough, so make sure you are doing the coursework. Her lectures are great because she gives analogies for simplifying some of the rather abstract details of the material. She's a super nice prof! Go to class and do the work and you'll be sailing.
Diana is a super nice prof. She cares about students and she can explain the concepts really well. Office hours is helpful, assignments and exams are fair. She even gave me extension on an assignment because I was going through some tough family issues. I took 2 courses with her and wish I could take more!
Diana is a really nice and approachable prof. She really does care about her students and does her best to make everyone pass. CMPT is a subject that you need to spend time on especially if you have no programming background but overall this class is easy. Just spend sometime with the material and get help if you need it.
Diana is a great ComSci prof! Lectures were very clear and easy to understand,even though it is quite clear English is probably not her first language. Every assignment was quite interesting, and the online Peerwise system was a good tool for learning from classmates. Great help was always available in her office hours. TA's however were not great.
The class is not hard to begin with but she is simply the sweetest woman, who just really wants her students to enjoy and succeed in the class.
Diana IS very sweet - she tries to engage the class and is just very nice. However, I did find her lectures and even the tests disorganized. In fact, her assignments were very unclear (way too long-winded, was confusing), but it's just a language thing. Beware of office hour lineups! She will explain for a long time, which causes traffic. )
Fantastic introductory professor. It may seem that the material is trivial, but she really does set you up with a great foundation for future computer science courses.
Great professor! She is very helpful and kind especially if you go to her office hours. If you study her notes and DO all the practice questions and labs, her exams are very easy and you get a cheat sheet. Last assignment was long. Will for sure take a course with her again! Iclicker points in class count for marks which is my only complaint.
Pros: Very helpful and friendly. Supports you throughout the course with small things here and there. Simplifies concepts; beginner-friendly. Cons: Somewhat disorganized, not always clear.
Quirky, and very knowledgeable. Enjoyed her teaching style, did not enjoy the 3 hours of lecture after the hour of tutorial that was mandatory for the class.
She's the sweetest most approachable lady but her lecture's are scattered and the material is far from clear. The class will be a breeze if you already know python but if not prepare to work.
Felt that she tried to cram too much material into one semester. Lots of guest speakers. Assignments aren't too hard but sometimes need clarifying. You can tell she's very passionate about the subject and teaching CMPT in general. She genuinely wants everyone to learn and do well, and is very open to suggestions.
Definitely a great professor, good teaching style. She's patient and helpful, would take her course in the future.
Easy course with an easy prof. 10/10 would take again. Seriously I barely came to class and I'm acing up the class. She's also very nice too and gives easy questions.
She's the nicest person ever, and REALLY doesn't want to see anyone do poorly. She makes a very easy Python based course even easier with a lot of free questions on exams and bonus marks everywhere.
Great prof
Kind and enthusiastic. It's okay if you don't have coding experience because she makes it accessible for beginners. My TA didn't care what we did in labs - just show up 5 out of 11 times. Tests consists of MC and handwriting code. MC qs were actually quite hard and similar to iclicker qs. I wanted to sleep through some lectures...
I loved her teaching, although it gets a little annoying when she teaches from the ground up and it feels a bit too immature, she explains very well and she is really nice. If you take her courses, be sure to pay lots of attention to her lab exercises and you will do great.
Diana is very kind, passionate and caring. She enjoys teaching. Her lectures and labs are useful for the assignments and exams.
Lectured well, easy to understand. She is very caring to students, and replied to questions on e-mail and is easily accessible outside of lectures. Would take a class with her again!
I am surprised to see why doesn't have a rating of 4.5+. She teaches in an excellent manner that really makes you understand how your code works. No question is a stupid question in her class, she welcomes extra inquiries and slowly goes over anything you do not understand. She waits outside the class for some time if you have any quick questions. Her notes are organized and she posts the annotated notes online after the class (bless her!). Read over the notes before quiz/test and understand all the iClicker questions and the concepts. That's all you need to good on the exam. Don't forget to practice a lot. There are some websites that let you practice your python skills. She lets you use generous amounts of cheat-sheets so do not stress the exams. Remember Practice is all you need to get A+ in this course.
Best prof you could have for this course. Extremely caring, she really wants every student to do well.
She was super caring and always listened to the class. Even when we did bad on the midterm, she was very receptive and helped us improve. Would definitely take a course with her again.
Diana is so caring and sweet! She does a well job explaining concepts and puts in a lot of effort to make sure you actually learn! It is clear that she is passionate about teaching and knows a lot about cs! and she is happy to adjust grades and extend deadlines if students inform her :)
Diana is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet! She really cares about her students and uses visual demonstrations that really help in understanding the material. The concepts are easy to understand but the tests are all a little tricky so be prepared! Knowing some Python beforehand will significantly help.
Wonderful professor. Friendly and approachable, knowledgeable and passionate about the course material and stays after class to answer questions and help out students. Would gladly take another course with Diana.
Great prof! She is very sweet and caring. Her assignments are a little challenging but that is how you learn. Her lectures are great too!
Great Professor, very enthusistic on the course and very caring as well. Cares about having her students succeed. Would definitely take a course with her again.
She is an awesome professor. She really seems to care that you learn. The course is seriously an easy A if you bother to go to class, listen and follow her instructions on assignments. She gives a lot of free marks. We had 2% for attending a workshop and 1% extra credit. Exams and assignments are easy. What more do you want?! Def recommend her!
Great prof, clear material explanation. Super responsible
She is amazing! Diana is funny and kind - and explains things in a way that really sticks in your mind. Her examples and demonstrations in class were extremely helpful. She was available for extra help outside of class, and there was a decent amount of assignments. You could tell that she really wants her students to do their best, and to succeed!
Good professor but not the best at getting marks back to you efficiently.
Very nice and caring prof. Easy course with a lot of valuable content if you take the time to learn it. However, sometime she's talks to the class like we're in Elementary school which can be very annoying. Also, too accommodating when it comes to assignments, often extended the due dates because several students complained they were busy.
A GPA booster course if you did all the required readings and assignments
Diana is a great prof who really cares about her students. There is a lot of extra reading in this class, which does show up on exams. Exams are all written, and you have to write a few short essays yourself, and one long paper as a group. Attendance in class is worth 8%, although lectures aren't the most useful, you learn more from the readings.
Diana is one of those professors who knows how to teach course content well. She uses good analogies and demos in class to ease understanding. She also gives out a lot of bonus marks which you should capitalize on. Her assignments and exams are not too hard in difficulty, albeit time consuming. I-clickers are also used in class and are worth marks.
Diana is the best prof I've had at the 3 universities I've attended. She explains concepts so well ,and keeps the class engaged with iClickers and fun demonstrations. I'd never taken a CS course before 120, and Diana made me passionate about the subject. She's passionate about education, and takes courses to learn new teaching techniques. It shows.
Diana is a big personality for early in the morning. Super easy class, but she slips a couple surprisingly hard MC questions into exams (expect to lose a mark or two). If you've never coded take care not to fall behind, but if you keep up with online readings/exercises you will fly through this class (even without all the bonus marks she offers)
She's a wonderful prof that makes learning new coding concepts so easy to understand! This was the first coding class I ever took, and I looked forward to the assignments! Make sure to ask questions if you're confused, she's super kind and cares about your understanding of concepts. 100% would take another class with her!
BEWARE the final. Even without her truly awful explanations (why do you need a paragraph to explain "number a plus number b"?) and near endless typos its honestly way harder than the class prepares you for (I was 82% going into the final, still failed). Just because the lectures and assignments are easy and even fun don't drop your guard!
Very passionate about the subject! However, found her to be quite disorganized in directions for assignments and explanations during class. I was often confused what was expected of us. She also doesnt answer any emails regarding serious topics (Illness, misconduct, etc) but will respond to trivial ones you send afterwards which was off putting.
Amazing Prof, approachable, and loves what she does. A great resource, encourages questions, and is always there to help and get the point across. Very fair in grading and assignment distribution and will adjust to make sure that students are learning and willing to try and improve and do their best instead of freaking out over grades. SFU is lucky
Ok teacher. Her class gets pretty hard towards the end so don't get tricked by the easier assignments at the beginning of the semester. She doesn't have the best English so it can be hard to understand her at times. I've only ever had her in an online class so I can't say anything about how she would be in person.
She is very, very enthusiastic. Assignments were easy, the exam questions can be a little confusing though, but fairly easy to study for.
She really cares for the students, and time and time again mentions to get good sleep and try to manage stress, and look out for our health. She explains concepts very well and although quizzes weren't for marks, they let us know what she expected on the midterm. The work wasn't too hard for the most part, although near the end obviously got harder
Diana is so sweet and caring. She is however VERY disorganized and you WILL scramble to keep up with her messy slides. Gets off topic all the time. Her European accent is not too thick. Assignments are simple at first, but pick up fast if you slack. This is a beginners course, but I suggest you familiarize yourself with Python before the semester.
Prof Cukierman is so kind and caring. Friendly and approachable. Takes feedback from students and applies that feedback to improve her classes, which I think is fantastic. Prof Cukierman is definitely recommended, just be aware that the class gets difficult really quickly; don't slack off just because the first few assignments are easy.
She's a fantastic prof. Very caring for the students, at the same time makes sure that everything is in order and actually listens to her students. Very enthusiastic and a amazing prof in general. Would RECOMMEND
We took sorting and recursion at the end, she explained very fast and no HW was given as we had a final project (that was given to us way too late). So we thought it would be a small part of the final. 70% of the final was DIRECTLY linked to those topics. I got a C in the final and averaged 96% in everything like project midterm : (
Diana's a fun prof who seems to genuinely care about her students. She does her best to make the class as fun and engaging as possible, and is very reasonable about marks. Take this class!
Very enthusiastic in lectures and she spent tons of time replying to questions on the discussion board, she went above and beyond to help us learn. Her explanations are very clear and she is always willing to help in office hours. Final project is given very late so be prepared for that. The hard stuff is covered in like the last 3 or 4 lectures.
Diana is a great professor to start computer science with. That being said this class ramps up in difficulty after the midterm. The first 1.5 months are comically easy and then everything after the midterm gets much more difficult. On top of that the final project was left for the last 2 weeks (too late in my opinion). Study study study.
this was the greatest prof and class ive ever had. if I tried a bit harder I would have gotten an A for sure. The way she explained things just was amazing and I learned it . if you wanna do amazing. after every class you have to start and use the code you learned this will set you up for success. Cheers and thank you.
This is my first year in computer science and thanks to her excellent teaching of material and availability I was able to really understand the basics of python. She is also incredibly charismatic and the atmosphere of the class makes all aspects of learning programming conducive to learning.
Diana is a great prof and has amazing energy! With that being said, this class is not at all a GPA booster. The people who say this class is easy to have tons of coding experience. Assignments are manageable. The final and midterm were absolutely deadly. Do not recommend taking this class for fun or having no coding experience.
Great Prof, gave fantastic lectures.
Enthusiastic in lectures, goes over code during class, and assigns reasonable exercises to apply what we learned in class
Very enjoyable class and the weekly assignments were easy. The exams were pretty easy too and the prof taught everything well. I would heavily recommend this prof to anyone.
loved this class was always the best part of my mornings! great introduction to some simple and some more complicated programming concepts and still a lot of fun if you already know what you're doing what with the variety of homework assignments and final project options. it helped to follow along with all the coding examples in her lectures.
She was super nice. After a horrible experience with another teacher, I was grappling pillows when I looked at my GPA. But, she was super nice and lenient. Take the course, u wont regret it Ehe he.
Great professor. Wonderful, friendly environment in the lectures. Good vibe overall, very caring for students (reflected in quick responses to questions). Assignments are trivial if you do the readings, but the midterm and especially the final was a bit hard given the time crunch. Final project should be worked on AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT. Thanks!
Diana is AMAZING!! Her lectures are always fun and she makes sure everyone is having a good time learning. The only reason I got a low mark was that I got lazy since mine was online and I stopped going to lectures. BUT her lectures are super helpful and I do not recommend skipping them. Once I spent 30mins on a call with her doing my code lol.
the course is easy enough but diana doesn't teach at all, you have to read the textbook yourself and google things. one session of introducing the subject and then a heavy assignment. be prepared to do lots of self-reading. but she is fun and makes the course fun and everything.
I came in with zero coding knowledge. While she is nice, I found assignments harder than the material learned in class. I spent a long time coding them. Online free textbook (website). I felt that it was too many coding questions for the amount of time that we had for the midterm (online).
Easily one of the most caring and devoted profs I have had! She would literally stay 2 hours after every class just to make sure she could address every student's concern. She is also super entertaining and funny. Take 120 with her if possible!
Dr. Cukierman is a great professor, she posts the recorded lectures and stays after class to answer questions and really cares about students. The midterm was pretty hard because I ran out of time for the last part, but I would definitely take a class with her again if I could.
Diana deeply cares about her students and is always willing to help. Assignments and the group project make up 55% of the class mark and if you follow the rubric, you will be able to achieve 100%. The MT was a bit rough with a lot of students not managing to finish but the final exam was comparably easier and rehashed many concepts from the MT
She's a great prof for CS beginners. Explain everything well and straight forward. She's also very funny.
10,000% recommend this gem of a professor if you want an intro to CS. She makes overwhelming concepts easy with her calming and kind attitude towards everyone and everything. The way her course is structured also makes u learn very well. She is excellent in Python
She is passionate about the class which is nice, however, the assignments start out simple and make sense, and slowly the things she assigns us to have less and less to do with what she is teaching us in class. She will assign you projects containing things you have never seen before and that make zero sense. Good luck
Diana is really passionate about the class. She is very caring and very approachable. The only reason why I would give her a low rating is because how the assignments are structured. It starts off really easy but exponentially gets difficult to the point where many of the lessons do not relate to the assignment. Get ready to work and work....
She has an amazing personality and you can go up to her for additional help. She's really approachable and she will stay with you until you get the material. However, in terms of time management, she has the worst time management skills ever. We have a big group project due on Monday just to have a big final exam 3 days later at 8:30am.
Awesome professor. Really seemed like she cared about her class. Always hyped to go to her lectures in the morning; it's not mandatory but I recommend it as she goes over many useful examples. Never coded before this course but found everything pretty easy as long as you pay attention during lectures and actually go through the weekly readings.
Cmpt 120 is a course where you get it or you don't. Diana's in-class examples were helpful for understanding the content, but some portions of the homework felt like a curveball. The first 4 weeks are dead easy. After that, instead of spending 2 hours on the assignments, you have to spend 8. If you don't have to take this course, then don't.
Diana is a good prof and creates a welcoming environment. I feel like the course could have taught us more useful stuff - but it's good for logical thinking for future CMPT courses. I don't like how the class was structured - feels disorganized and her slides are messy, making it hard to refer to the slides later on. Assignments & exams are fair.
She's enthusiastic and friendly.
Diana is an amazing prof, very easy to reach and always offers extensive after-class office hours. whoever rated her a 1 is CAPPIN
Worst class ever. She is passionate but I definitely don't enjoy her class since her slides are messy and it is really hard to follow. In-class examples are easy but the midterm is crazily hard. This course is either you understand it or you are so done with it. Prepare to cry every single time when she releases assignments as it is really hard.
Don't take CMPT 120 with Diana. Her lecture notes are extremely messy and her lecturing can become hard to pace since she jumps from one topic to another super quickly. She gives NO examples even a bit close to what you will be graded on the midterm, final exam or assignments. And when you ask for help, they tell you to review the messy notes!
slides are kinda disorganized but you could tell she wanted her students to succeed, rubric was confusing at times and lectures did not accurately cover material that was asked, however, she's pretty chill and gives good feedback/willing to help
Diana was a caring and a reasonable professor. Her class outline was clear and fair. However, I would not recommend this class as the content wasn't terribly difficult, but there was a big lack of organization and useful resources. Some assignments were difficult as the lectures did not cover the information needed to complete them.
Diana is an amazing prof. Her lectures were amazing and informative. There were very few homework assignments in my opinion, so to do well in the course, I had to do programming in my free time to make sure I understood how Python, in my case, worked. She plays music at the beginning of each class, which was very nice.
W prof W class
Good at teaching introductory courses, definitely would recommend, do not expect too much
This was my 1st term professor in CS, and after 2 years, there hasn't been another prof which explains concepts as intuitively as Diana. Great prof, take her if you can.
The prof is alright, isn't very tech savvy, this class is free, keep in mind it goes from 0 to 100 when u reach 125.
The professor is pretty chill and explains concepts intuitively. Though the content can get challenging at times, tools like unstuckstudy and the free textbook make it manageable. Overall, a solid intro CS course.
Ignore every 1 rating here. She is a great professor, plays music at the beginning of class and is very energetic to teach. The people giving 1's are crying because they failed a pi$$ easy introductory course in cs but blame the professor anyways.
why are people lying?all the reviews here are of people who dont do anything than code.for an introduction course for people who have to take this as a requirement and never want to do programming, i genuinely recommend daily prayers for a passing grade. and why is diana sassy?You have no reason to call out students.if the final is unapproachable..
24 marks. Choose the small code, and if you do it perfectly half marks OR do the large one and get full marks. Wow what a question. Never have i ever seen a more bs question in my life.
All I have to say is that it's a pity. It's a real pity that an intro computing course that's supposed to draw students into computing science actually ends up pushing them away because the professor is passive aggressive and creates diabolical exams that are worth the entirety of your grade. Beware, the whole "i love education" thing is a facade.
If you care about your GPA, don't take CMPT 120 with Diana. The final is worth 50 and the midterm is worth 20. The midterm was so atrocious she couldn't even bring herself to tell us the average...but guess what! If you do better on the final (imagine... 50% instead of 49! :D), it's now 70% of your grade! How fun for you.
0/10 would not recommend
HSCI student, no coding background, this class as a REQ. NOT an introduction class whatsoever. First two assignments were easy. after that, they became extremely difficult. Mock exam and practice quizzes done in class are super easy. Midterm exam is nothing like it. One question was worth 17 marks. the midterm grade average was a fail in the 40s.
no curve. she says it is possible that the entire class fails or the entire class gets an A. that should say enough as it is. shes passionate but sucks at teaching and her exams are way harder than anything taught in class, esp for an intro course. DO NOT TAKE UNLESS A REQ OR U HAVE CODING EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!
NO NO NO NO NO
AVOIDDDDDDDDDDDD EXAMS ARE SO UNFAIR UNLESS YK CODING EVEN THO ITS SUPPOSE TO BE AN INTRO
Beginning of course was easy until after midterm, lecture content didn't match the difficulty of assignments and review material didn't align with what was given on the midterm. Midterm average was 43% and final exam now replaces midterm grade meaning the final exam is WORTH 70% for people who didn't do well which was majority of class.
AVOID THIS WOMAN OMGGG. she is all nice in the beginning of the semester saying things like "your profs also determine the grade students get" and then you think she is hoping to help you. No she a liar and you will not see the light of day when as assignment as been given. like you will spend 50+ hours (generously) on her assignment
I have actually lost my sanity and will to live. thanks diana
HORRIBLE NEVER TAKE THIS COURSE! PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS. SHE WILL DRAIN YOUR HAPPINESS AND THE LIGHT INSIDE YOU. I WAS CHEERY BEFORE AND NOW IM DISTRESSED.
AVOID THIS PROF at all costs. Lecture slides are literally just scribbles and readings are not detailed enough to prepare for the insane exams. Going to her lectures is useless and painful atp. Nothing makes sense, and if you ask questions, youll get more confused. Only plus is that she seems very kind & sweet but that's not good enough for me lol
Horrible this prof tried to ruin my life
Absolutely terrible, get ready to sacrifice your sanity, life, and your firstborn child to pass this class
I think you can tell who's coping and who isn't from these reviews. Seriously, she's fine, she just doesn't baby students, which is something many people might struggle to cope with
If you're struggling in CMPT 120 of all courses, maybe programming isn't for you lmao. Diana is cool
The 1 star reviews were written by people who failed a p*ss easy course on basic Python, ignore the 1 star ratings, they're pure copium
Crashing out over CMPT 120, the easiest comp sci course (even for non-majors) is a serious skill issue imo. Maybe study instead of blaming the prof for your shortcomings. Diana is a solid prof and was well liked until this sem, so clearly it's salty copers
W class and W prof, whoever rated her 1 I wanna know what you smoke
As I am studying sleeplessly for the exam tomorrow, i just have one sole thought. Hatred for diana. Pure loathing.
to the person spamming with 5 star comments, what is wrong with you? i just know you have spent your entire youth coding and playing video games. for the people who do other things with their time. this class is not okay. stop acting like its so easy when it legit is so hard to answer her exam questions when i dont code ALL MY LIFE
diana WAS well liked. WAS. whatd she do. idk but she needs to figure it out fr.
Yea cmpt isnt my thing. i will never ever get into it. so keep your cmpt to yourself and get it out of my major. how about that
best prof, if you dislike Diana you are in for a rude awakening for the rest of your time at SFU.
she literally cant use a computer. also she never ends class on time. like i understand its a late class (2:30 - 3/4:20) but that doesnt mean we dont have other things to do in a day. She yaps so much. Just yap yap yap. in one ear out the other
If you want a basket weaving course, don't do computer science. And if you're shocked that your program requires coding, well I hate to break it to you, but it's 2025. Diana is a great prof
This is not an introductory class. No, this course is not for those with little to no experience. Stop lying.
Literally dont take this class with her! As someone else said her lecture slides are like a child scribbled all over with a crayon. Even the TA's were saying how what we were doing for our project isn't first year material. She's really nice but DONT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER!
grilled and charred for the final today.
Avoid at all costs
Don't take this class. Anyone saying it's “easy” or there are no problems with Diana are lying. This is no where near an introductory course. Even the TAs are clueless. Can't understand a word she says. Claims she cares about teaching and learning yet her class is at a 43% average and she does nothing about it.
The class started off pretty easy and seemed fun but as time went on, her lectures started to have nothing to do with the assignments. The readings and lecture content are easy to understand but when it comes to the assignments, the instructions are disorganized and confusing. The midterm had a low class average of 40% with most people failing
cooked for the final lol
Def not an intro course
good luck lol
Just don't.
She tried for the final tbh but still really long
I'll be more balanced here rather than emotional. Diana isn't HORRIBLE necessarily, but she's definitely not great and has faults. You can tell she's enthusiastic and nice, but her teaching and testing style isn't so good for beginners. If she adjusts that, I think she can be really solid. Hopefully she does that in the future
Many of the bad reviews here are emotion driven and clearly by students who aren't happy with their scores. That being said, perhaps Diana's style didn't really help, as her midterm was way too long for a lot of people. Nonetheless, I thought she was super nice and maybe doesn't deserve all of the spammy 1 star reviews. Criticism is understandable
She is a very kind professor who makes an effort to explain stuff intuitively. However, her testing style might not be the easiest for beginners. I would say that CS in general has that learning curve, but maybe Diana could make some things more accessible. Non-majors might not love her, but for CS majors, her class should be foundational.
professor is passive aggressive. Beware, the whole "i love education" thing is a facade.
Her questions on the midterm as well as the final are confusing. The mock up exam should be more relevant and should represent how the actual exam should be. Other than that, she is a good professor in the sense that she is nice during class, answer questions very thoroughly. However, I sent her multiple emails but did not receive any response back
if you are not religious, well you better pick a religion and start praying now because what were those exams. in class lectures do not cover the materials on the exams and her notes are messy... i showed my cs major friends who previously took this class and they were also confused about a question that was worth 17/24 marks on the midterm.
if you are actually a beginner coder and not a computing major. just dont do it. run a hide. lectures so messy, no proper lecture recordings just audio. lecture is completely different material than assignments and tests. and grade depends on exams. RUN
Solid class, she was really nice and played music beforehand
Take the low ratings with a grain of salt. Diana uses the same projects as all other CMPT 120 profs, so those who are pretending that she's giving material beyond first year don't know jack. The low ratings are non-majors who think it's an easy elective or some low effort requirement.
People here not only complain about Diana for no reason but also lie. The midterm question was 12 points, not 17 (24 pt exam). The full pt solution for it was just 13 lines. Just the most salty and vitriolic people complaining about her now. Study and you'll be fine.
A hard course if you don't put in the effort. The low ratings are valid, but extreme. This is coming from someone with zero coding experience. She explains concepts well (go to the lectures), and although examinations are difficult, if you do/understand the exercises and practices she gives you (there are PLENTY), you will be fine.
okay, i passed this course but didnt get the grade i wanted to be honest, others around me struggled as well however i dont want to place full blame on the prof. be wary, material gets difficult and assignments get heavy, pls go to ta and office hours. most importantly, keep practicing, especially quizzes and questions each week, they help!
my best advice if u have to take this course as a 1st year -not light, revise all difficult material lots! -practice questions related to the output, debugging n execution of code -assignments n project will be difficult! start beforehand -go to office hours, she is rlly nice -finally, although I did bad, doing good is possible
Class avg was a C+ due to immense scaling. Midterm Avg 44%, Final Avg 55%...
Diana is a great prof, she is helpful and willing to stay after lectures for office hours. (there are no tuts) Her lectures are clear and useful. The main issues are the exams which are worth 70%. First midterm (20%) had a class avg of 40%, but since it was so low, she offered to replace it with the final exam grade if the final score was higher.
Great course, she was good
You can survive without going to lectures however, a deeper understanding of the topics is best done by yourself. Assessments are predictable to mocks however, the marking is very dependant on whether your code works completely. Very gracious as midterm marks were pushed to final.
She's awesome, I would definitely take courses with her again, She's so great!
Please do not take this course. It is definitely not meant for beginner students and your entire grade depends on the exams. So if you mess up the exams then it doesn't matter if you do good on the assignments and projects. I do not recommend taking cmpt 120 with this prof.
Diana is super nice and sweet, but her exams are very tough and challenging. I went to all her lectures but the lectures are not similar to the exams at all. She gives weekly assignments and sometimes makes the assignments due before the exam (stressful)! You might need to study way more than expected if you aren't very familiar with programming.
She is the best prof ever! She cares about all the students and kindly offers help. Im so lucky to have met her.
Prof Cukierman is really cool and seems to really care about the students. To be honest I really struggled in this class, I had a lot of things going on and i'm not sure if that factored, but I found the course hard. Despite that, Diana was understanding and actually tried helping coming up with solutions instead of just letting us tough it out.
The prof is nice but this is definitely not a course for beginner programmers.
She's really sweet. Very good engagement for in-class sessions. Her exams and assignments are a little bit difficult for the time given for it, but still doable.
CMPT 120 with Diana was by far the most frustrating course I've ever taken at SFU. The lectures were incredibly disorganized and difficult to follow, with little to no clear explanations of key concepts. Instead of helping students understand Python fundamentals, the material felt rushed and confusing, leaving many students lost.
CMPT 120 with Diana was awful. The lectures were disorganized and confusing, and she gave little to no real help. Questions were met with vague or dismissive answers. Assignments were unclear, and grading felt random and unfair. This course caused unnecessary stress and taught very little. Avoid taking it with this instructor
CMPT 120 with Diana was the worst class I've ever taken. The lectures were a mess, the assignments made no sense, and the grading was completely random. She was unhelpful and dismissive whenever students asked for support. This course was a total waste of time and energy avoid it at all costs.
CMPT 120 with Diana was terrible. The lectures were confusing, the assignments were a mess, and grading felt random. She was unhelpful and dismissive. Worst class at SFU avoid at all costs.
Not sure what everyone is complaining about. She's an awesome professor that really wants their students to succeed. She tries to answer everybody's questions to the best of her ability, and the lecture slides are not confusing as long as you're coming to class and paying attention. But I feel like there should be a little more time for the exams.
CMPT 120 with Diana was terrible. The lectures were confusing, the assignments were a mess, and grading felt random. She was unhelpful and dismissive
This class was an absolute mess. I can't believe how unorganized every aspect of it was. She is nice but she has no idea how to write exams that actually test knowledge. Slides are incredibly messy and don't get me started on what a dumpster fire the Canvas page was lol
Great prof! As a student, you can really tell she deeply cares about teaching/programming, and it was a really fun/interesting lecture. She posts the slides, and the textbook is free online, so it was easy to follow along when I didn't attend the lectures.
I don't recommend students who have no experience with python. As Diana makes this course far more complicated than necessary. I would recommend people to take cmpt 120 with any other prof than Diana please.
It was an interesting course.
Professor is rather very disorganized and grading is unclear.
The professor might be nice. However, Diana treats the course like some students are already decent with python skills. If you are new to python, do not take it with Diana if you want to save your grade.
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