Professor Hamilton was by far my favorite professor so far. He kept the lectures entertaining and overall was just very knowledgable. I felt that the Projects were a little on the tougher side, but regardless CMSC 201 was great.

Eric is a great guy, and banters with the class a lot which is very cool and funny. I had him for CMSC 201 and have him now for 203, and my advice would be that while he's a good teacher for 201, he's not great for 203. It may be because this is his first time teaching this class, but the structure is very messy. He's easy for 203, less for 201.

I retook the class with Hamilton and I found his lectures to be really engaging, he can get a little off topic, which I didn't mind, and actually found very interesting, but for first time learners of the material, it might be a little confusing. For proj3, he gave a very helpful walkthrough, when other profs will avoid talking about projs at all.

A lot of the bad reviews here are surprising. Erics lectures are easy to follow and well paced. He goes off on tangents sometimes but it keeps the class fun. I had no experience coding and found that if you just attend the lectures and start the work early, its an easy course. The biggest downside is grading is slow but its a giant class.

Professor Hamilton is a decent professor. He def knows the subject and cares about teaching. The class is a little disorganized with the grading but this is an irregular semester. I had no experience with coding before the semester and this class was pretty easy. Just play around with python and you'll do fine.

I am so happy I took Eric for 341. Hes very knowledgeable on the subject and always kept the class interesting. He helped me and others a lot on projects for hours after office hours were supposed to end. He made difficult exams but graded them very leniently. He chose to make our final optional which took a lot of stress off of finals week.

I had him for 201 in the Fall 2019. He had very specific slides which helped me better understand the material covered. His live coding does tend to go fast. But he was always happy to help during his office hours when it came to projects and exams. He helps guide you on the projects which is very helpful. Would definitely take him again!

Fantastic guy! Really likes to teach you things. Very easy grader, during one exam he literally helped people on the exam sheet. His lectures were very fun, and I enjoyed being in them. 10/10 would recommend

Hamilton made sure to keep the class interesting. The best thing to see in a professor is to see them actually caring about students really learning the material. He taught so that people understood, not so they would just do well on the exam. He super available outside of class, and I only went to him for help with code instead of TA office hours.

Eric is a math whiz, and that routinely shows up in his lectures. He's also funny and likes to crack nerdy jokes when teaching.

A lot of bad reviews that I don't think he deserves. This class is obviously a weed-out class. If you can't take the heat, don't be mad at prof E. His lectures are helpful and he is pretty accommodating regarding extensions and all. especially online. This class was probably the most difficult I've taken but I can give credit where it's due.

If you think you will, or currently struggle with entry level coding, try turtle programming on CodeHS. This level of coding is below what a college level class is, but will help w/ fundamentals. Prof E does a great job explaining concepts and makes it to where its not just some boring thing where you watch a dude type for an hour.

Aside from late homeworks, exams, and slow grading, Prof. Hamilton made this class with several horror stories quite enjoyable imo. His lectures were super helpful as he mostly draws out the concepts and does live coding on those topics. He is super helpful with the projects especially early on, so don't sleep on the projects and ask too late.

Want even my teaches but he's the only reason I survived my class because my teacher was very incompetent. A cool dude who teaches quite well.

Eric Hamilton is a really great professor. His lectures were a lot of fun. Professor Hamilton was always very engaging. The lectures can get kind of math-heavy when he goes off on math tangents at the chalk board, but it's fun seeing him get into it. Quizzes and exams aren't too difficult if you follow along with all of the lectures.

Hamilton is excellent. Really smart guy and delivers lectures in an entertaining way.

Overall, Professor Hamilton's course on Intro to CompSci 1 was challenging, but rewarding. The assignments in this class are project-based, meaning you use the code you learn over time. This helps solidify an understanding of programming concepts. Topics covered include, conditionals, iteration, recursion. Heavy emphasis placed on array manipulatio

Coming into this class with hardly any solid programming experience was quite difficult at the beginning. Over time it got easier although the homework and projects got harder. The best tip I could give to a student prior to taking this course is to look over the lecture slides before class and to start the homework as soon as possible.

Prof Hamilton teaches the class by explaining and using whatever he taught in pyCharm w/ energy. I like the unusual information he would share while discussing coding. The worst aspect of his teaching method is that his hands move too quickly, making it difficult to keep up with him later in the semester, although he publishes his notes on GitHub.

Not a CS major, but I took this because it was a recommended class for me to know. I hadn't done a bit of python before this class and I felt like it was pretty easy. If you miss a lecture he has an entire semester of lectures from COVID up on his youtube channel which made the in-class lectures not as stressful. His lectures helped a lot. Spring22

Eric's lectures are very useful and everything he demonstrates has a purpose. I can't speak for the 201 students, but I would say that he's a math guy, so 441 is probably his strong suit. Highly recommend.

Eric literally bestieeee. Class was hard bc no prior experience. He is knowledgeable about Python, so his personal office hours were more helpful than TAs. Sometimes hes too fast/sidetracks during lectures, but he gave us exam extra credit + would give project hints. Get ready to invest a lot of time into the weekly HW (6) and projects (3)!

really accessible and helpful during office hours and responds to emails within 5 hours or less. he is truly a math dude and many of his examples are math-related. he does go sometimes a bit too fast but dw he posts his notes on Git Hub. attendance isn't mandatory but I suggest you come to class to hear the explanations.

They are super nice, make all the assignments clear, and go over some processes with similar questions in class. Super easy class.

Good lectures that were easy to understand, textbook referenced but not required to read. He doesn't post any content online so it is definitely required to come to lecture, but he is funny and engaging so it never felt like a slog. All tests and homework graded leniently. As others have said, he is more of a math guy.

Great professor, just pay attention in lectures and practice what he teaches in class and go over his github slides. Exams are easy. Best to reach out to him via email with screenshots of your code and explain the issue you are having. 6 HW, 10 Labs and 3 Projects. Exams were pretty easy, simple concepts covered MCQs, debugging and 2 coding.

As someone who has both been taught by and worked for Professor Hamilton, I can say he is by far the best professor I've ever had. If you're willing to do the work with integrity, you'll have no trouble succeeding in this class. He genuinely cares about his students and he's very approachable in office hours.

Professor Hamilton is amazing! He's very committed to his students' success, explains difficult concepts well, accessible outside class, and genuinely cares about his students. Lectures can be fast-paced due to extensive material of the course itself. Consider taking 104 first, regardless of professor. Very underrated and deserves more recognition.

Entertaining and self deprecating. 202 is rough with anyone and your experience won't be too different between sections, but Hamilton kept class time engaging, at least compared to Dixon

The man!!! Office hours he is very helpful. Projects are very clear and the rubric is put out for projects.

You either like him or you don't. He doesn't bore you with slides and does in-class programming almost 99% of the time. Projects are definitely more difficult than they should be for a introductory class but they are all doable. Tests are difficult-ish.

The class was easy for the most part. I would recommend learning the basics of Python before starting to make the class even more easier to the point where you don't need to show up to any lecture. He does try to trick you on the exams sometimes so be careful about that. Overall, easy class.

For a CS Prof, he's decent. HE TYPES EXSTREAMLY FAST! You actually have to put effort into the class, it's not an easy class. Its frustrating when he'd go through previous exams and there'd be mistakes or he would run out of time or could say that the problem was extremely hard and why did he put it on the exam. Go to the lectures, or you'll fail.

If you go to class, you should be fine. The practice exams are almost identical to the actual exams

Very good prof. I went in with little to no coding experience and he really helped

This is a very good prof. I took 201 with him a couple semesters ago and he was great. he needs to teach more upper level classes

Go to lecture and your good. no textbook needed

Not sure about these negative ratings, this is for sure who you want to take this class with

Pretty simple class for beginners

Without question this is the best comp sci professor at UMBC, its not an easy class, but its worth it

This is a good class. good prof

You can tell Professor Hamilton truly loves teaching. Their passion for computer science makes lectures engaging and fun, even when the topic is like recursion. They're great at breaking down difficult material and making it feel manageable. Highly recommend their classes if you get the chance!

Such an amazing professor! All the people complaining are just lazy, and 201 is the easiest it'll get if you're a comp sci major.

hes so helpful and explains stuff so well!

the goattttt

Great professor! Explains complex topics clearly and makes class engaging. Super helpful during office hours.

Hamilton is both a thorough and fun lecturer (downside is he is confusing at times, and fast). The class is hard if you're not used to coding so if you're like me don't expect to get everything the first time. Projects and homework are hard. Do not procrastinate it is painful. Exams are straightforward if you know the content and he's very lenient

Class is all lectures hearing him geek out about the class content(highly recommend), covers concepts in the form of "how does this algorithm/proof operate, be able to write some psuedocode or result so you can show you understand". Very smart guy, good course.

Definitely attend the lectures, he does a great job explaining the topics. Do not procrastinate especially on the projects. Start learning python before you take the course because he moves pretty fast, and go to his office hours!