One of the very few professors whose classes I looked forward to attending. Project heavy but they are designed in such a way that you actually learn from it. Hilarious and accessible outside class.

Amazing professor! Really clear-headed. Knows his stuff. Project heavy course. But he is pretty supportive. Strict about what is essential. Definitely love attending his lectures. Do NOT take the course if you don't like Java, Android programming, and isn't ready to slog it out.

Great Prof. Lectures are interesting and I actually wanted to attend them. Unlike most professors he adds energy to his lectures. Very willing to help students in and out of lecture. Class is project heavy all in Java, Android development. You are given a good amount of time to complete them but do not put them off last minute.

One of the best professors in UB. He makes the lecture entertaining and teaches well. The projects are designed to test the technical aptitude of the student. They are heavy so don't start late. Always available for students and that is the best quality I found in him. Hilarious and respectable. Definitely would take classes with him again.

One of the best professors I had till date. His concepts are crystal-clear which in turn reflects in his teaching style. He is hilarious, super cooperative and cool. I am really grateful that I had an opportunity to take the distributed systems course under him.

Great lectures, an inspiring teacher and always there to help the students. The course itself is well structured too. Start early on the projects and you are fine. I would any day take a class under Professor Blanton.

Professor Blanton's classes were interesting, informative and he is a professor who definitely knows his stuff and tries creating interest in the student's mind while being supportive. Highly recommend this class, would definitely take another class under him.

One of the best professors at UB in my opinion. Very passionate about teaching, as well as the content he teaches and is extremely accessible outside of class. If you have an opportunity to take a class with him then do it.

Dr. Blanton is an outstanding instructor. Expect his lectures to be packed with well-structured information, digressions into the history or real-world applications of topics, wit/snark, and the occasional hot take. Dr. Blanton expects his courses to prepare students for industry or continuation of academia, so expect a lot of independent learning!

Really great professor. Always accessible and will help you clear even the simplest of doubts. Very helpful if you are ready to work for it. Learned a lot from this course.

The grade is scattered across multiple criteria's. I freaked out when I messed up in one criteria but if the whole class did bad on a criteria he compensates through extra points and credits to balance at the end of the semester. Learned extremely important materials that were major interview questions. Very supportive professor!!

By far one of the GREATEST gems. He is so caring, makes me not miss my dad and miss my dad at the same time. He is strict as a professor, wants the student to do the expected work, but that's how it should be. It's our fault that we are lazy and don't do the work efficiently. MUST keep up with readings, assignments are long--only if u fall behind!

Ethan is the bomb. Lectures with real energy and truly cares about the success of his students. 220 is hard but the grading and course structure is very fair. Tough class great professor. My favorite in the CS department so far.

Professor Blanton is the crown jewel of the UB CSE department. His class makes you appreciate the material, and he has very clear grading criteria, so you know exactly what you need to do to succeed in his class. He is very approachable in office hours, and if he ever teaches another class, I will certainly try to take it, no matter the content!

Great man and good teacher

I'm currently taking cse220&cse250. Dr. Blanton is a great professor, and a nice man. I started the semester off well then 250,220,and an elective all had projects at the same time during exam weeks (I had 4 exams), if you study, you won't get the projects done. If you do projects, you fail the tests. I have never been this depressed in my life.

Very good professor, clearly cares about his students. Gives an excessive amount of quizzes, labs, and projects. 2-3 quizzes, 3 lectures, 1 lab, and 1 project per week, on top of reading assignments and lab sessions. The class isn't very difficult, but you need to set aside an inordinate amount of time to stay caught up and not forget assignments

What a great teacher. Very inspiring and kind, yet challenges you. Online lectures over youtube live were very entertaining and filled with interesting concepts. I wish I could take this class again.

Ethan is a great person and professor, and he is super helpful and approachable in office hours. He has great TAs that know what they're doing and answer questions. But YOU have to put in the work/time too. You aren't going to be given the answer on a silver platter, but they will help you understand concepts and guide you in the right direction.

Ethan is an incredibly caring and intelligent professor. My only real grievance with him is how sidetracked he can get during lecture. His projects are super hard but you learn a ton. Tests are also really hard, but they were curved and 35% of your grade is quizzes and labs, which are fairly easy. The TAs for this course are simply incredible

Very caring and amazing professor. Even though the class is difficult he and his TAs help you very well and try to ensure your success. He can get distracted in lecture sometimes but you end up learning more than just textbook material. This class is hard and has a lot of work but he tries to make it bearable. The final had a great curve.

A real gem, deserves more than 5 !

CSE 220 is a difficult class and it would have been a lot more difficult if it wasn't for Prof Blanton. Do the required readings, it makes a huge difference. The most imporatnt thing to do is to get started on the project as soon they are released because they are difficult and do take a lot of time.

Best professor I've ever had. Passionate about the material, generous in doling out help and advice, encyclopedic knowledge of the content. The man literally answers questions on weekends on piazza. Takes course feedback and our education seriously. Those who mentioned that it is a lot of work, I agree. That's about the only downside, but worth it.

Amazing professor! This class is set up so well for us to succeed considering the difficult subject matter. Amazing TAs and course staff. Start the projects early, go to office hours with the handouts the first day, you won't be sorry! Really interesting material and fun labs and projects. Would love to take this professor again in a future class!

Prof. Blanton is so far the best professor I've had at UB. If you are struggling with the class you can set up a meeting with him and he will guide you to what you could/should do to start doing better, which really does help. Office hours are super helpful from the amazing teaching staff that he has.

Boy was this a tough class. And I mean really tough. I really don't like the way they distributed assignments. The majority of the class we try to balance studying for extremely important and specialized tests and working on massive group projects. A few weeks past the midterms you are blasted with a massively advanced project worth a letter grade.

He's very straightforward and fair, sometimes goes off on tangents during his lectures (but they're always interesting, even when not directly related to the course), and he easily has some of the best lectures I've ever seen. It's not too hard if you just show up, pay attention, start projects early, do at least some reading, and try for real.

Good teacher with tough class, got to office hour if possible

Ethan is the GOAT. Was this the hardest class I've ever taken in my academic career? Yes. Was it also the most educational and enjoyable? Yup. You learn in GREAT DEPTH how computers work. Reach out outside of class for help, him and his TAs are excellent and I appreciated them greatly. I wish he taught all my classes!

Ethan is the best. 220 is a tough class but he makes it doable. He is a great lecturer and it's easy to stay focused on his class. Extremely organized on everything. Attend class-exams have things that were explained in class rather than the lecture slides.

The only professor you should take for 220

This is my favorite class I have ever taken, mostly because Dr. Blanton is so organized and clarifies what is expected of you to do well. Make sure you do the required readings if you're struggling with a topic and go to office hours for help with the PAs.

Definitely take his class if you have the chance.

Ethan is a very passionate professor and makes an already interesting course amazing! However, he can sometimes appear intimidating, especially at the beginning of the semester, but he is always willing to answer questions and help the students. I do wish that he taught more about using Emacs well in the Lubuntu VMs, since it is confusing.

If you're taking 220, Ethan will make the course so much more interesting than any other professor could. Whenever Ethan lectures, it's clear he knows his stuff. I would highly recommend him, he's very caring and is willing to help if you're willing to put in some effort, love him.

If you love programming, then go to CSE220, because it is a haven. If you hate programming, then go to CSE220, because it is hail. It is military training that will make you strong.

good man!

Amazing lectures! Gives out challenging projects that force you to think and be precise. Start projects early and go to office hours!

Ethan Blanton is hands down the best professor I've had at UB. His no-"BS" attitude about things can be a bit condescending at times, but once you get to know him you'll understand how really humble he is. If you're taking this course soon, BE PREPARED. IT'S HARD. Ethan can be a tough grader with projects and occasionally have unfair due dates.

He is a great professor. THE TIME YOU PUT INTO HIS CLASS IS THE EXACT OUTCOME YOU WILL EXPECT. Many students complain about how harsh he is but don't realize how much he cares about his students. If you actually care about the class you will realize the TA's go above and beyond for the students.

He knows what he is doing, and this class is a great take for such hard material. I didn't do super well, but I know exactly what I could have done to get a good grade.

One of the best professors at UB. His excellent lecture clearly shows his deep understanding of the topic. His exams are hard so prepare to fully understand the topic and the textbook. His projects and labs are also challenging but they are fun and tied well with the topics we learn. He value participation so don't skip the class.

A decent professor overall. He answers questions in multiple different ways to make sure as many people understand the material as possible. Also uses many drawings and diagrams to explain concepts if you don't understand. HWs and programming assignment descriptions are lengthy and descriptive, so you have to do some reading. Textbook is required.

Pros: clear, understandable lectures; always willing to answer questions; makes sure students understand content before moving ahead. Cons: you essentially teach yourself the content in this class via projects.

He speaks in a very clear voice just like announcers. The materials are hard but he always does his best to present everything in the best way. He always makes sure students understand on lecture. He claimed himself to be "judgy", and indeed, he could be critical sometimes. But he was intended to help his students to become better programmers.

Great professor, but once I said that you can find the size of memory, he threw a Molotov cocktail at my car

It's not an easy class and required lots of working, research, and practice outside the class. The amount of time and effort you put in is proportional to the result you will be getting. Start work early and utilize office hour.

CSE 220 was one of the hardest classes, I have taken so far. But with that being said I don't think I ever had a professor this passionate about a subject until I have taken this class. If you were going to choose a professor for CSE220, I would go for Ethan.

Great professor, learned a lot from this class, only reason my grade is low is because i skipped a bunch of classes and did poorly on the tests. If you put in the work for this class you are rewarded with knowledge you keep outside the course.

After failing last semester, I returned to 220 this semester and have really grown to like Prof. Blanton. One thing that cannot be stressed enough is that the amount of work you put in will be the grade you receive. I learned that the hard way last semester. My suggestion is stay on top of the lectures and stay up to date on the readings.

Professor Blanton is one of the best professors I have had so far. The course is not easy, but his approach to teaching the material is very systematic, and he explains every topic so that it is possible to digest. He is very caring and friendly, and even though this course is tough, you can always find support if you need it.

my favorite professor at UB, but 486 was also the hardest course i've ever taken, in a good way. be prepared to do a ton of work and learn a lot. fantastic lecturer.

One of the professors you hate while taking, and are glad you took him the next semester. The course was not terribly difficult, but you must put in the time and work. He makes reading off slides in class interesting and he is quite funny. Can be aggravating and blunt sometimes with the piazza posts and questions but emotions aside he is very fair.

He is somewhat intimidating but he wouldn't eat you. You need to put in a lots of time and effort into this course to succeed. Go to OH as early as possible and pick timing when there's not many people.

He is one of the coolest professors in the UB! Although his assignments are time-consuming, the instructions handout is VERY clear! One of the reasons I admire him is that he is not like the lazy professors from my previous university, he actually cares about students and answers questions on the piazza a lot of times!

The best CS professor at UB, hands down. His lectures were amazing and full of interesting historical tangents. He's super funny, and also pretty sarcastic. The class was very difficult, but everything was super organized to help you succeed. He clearly loves the material he teaches. Take him if at all possible!

Ethan is a funny and outgoing professor! His content is extremely lecture-heavy, so make sure to take lots of notes. The class was definitely difficult, but I think Ethan did a great job explaining the difficult concepts. The projects and exams are known to be extremely difficult, but compared to the other professors Ethan is great.

Challenging workload, but a great professor. I'm not switching to Emacs though. I tried.

Before attending the course, Ethan told me that this is the second hardest one for the undergraduate CSE course. The course is extremely textbook-heavy . The coursework is incredibly challenging, and the exams are tough if u do not read papers and textbooks. The course is very rewarding, and Ethan is one of the BEST professors at UB.

Not sure about what the previous rating says, this guys not really not that bad and cares for the students. I'm even good at cs but hes a good professor and you can ask any question and it will get answered. Very underrated professor honestly the haters are people who put in 0 work and are on their phone all class.

This was a very difficult class. I took it last semester, so maybe it changed somehow. But if you go to office hours early, you will do well. My semester, we had the best TAs I've ever met. I wish my current classes had TAs like them. He is a bit scary, but you could tell he cares about the students. There was a very generous curve to the final.