3.1
Quality3.8
Difficulty45%
Would Retake206
Reviews45%
Would Retake
206
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
55
4
42
3
35
2
28
1
46
What Students Say
“As announced at the final exam, the grade breakdown will be posted on Piazza early this week”
CSE110 - 5.0 rating“Every morning I do CS, and every afternoon I finish my PA”
CSE12 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
40%
Textbook Required
49%
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A-
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CSE91
5.0
(1)12
4.0
(1)CSE30
4.0
(1)CS1215L
4.0
(1)15L
3.7
(3)Difficulty by Course
CSE30
5.0
CS12
4.1
CSE12
4.1
12
4.0
CSE8B
3.3
Reviews (206)
Nice guy, ridiculous assignments, poor approach for teaching OO design.
Learning to program in C, C++ in this class was horrendous.
A challenging course with a professor who is way into his dog and his notes.
best teacher i've ever had.. kind and helpful
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He is my first CSE professor who knows how to teach, but assignments are very tough.
Horrible teacher and his dog is his life. Caught someone cheating on my programs and he wouldn't get off my back even though the other person admitted it was all their fault. Programs are ridiculous.
Difficult and rigorous class but Gillespie has a proficient command of the material and the programming assignments are realistic in the sense that they come from real world problems.
Nice guy. Materials are useful in real life.
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The professor is good and you can do the assignments if you are smart. but your major problem is the tutor who grades you. these tutors are not TAs they are undergrad student and most of them are not smarter than students currently taking the class. but s
Midterms are intentially overly difficult. I got a 53% and that curves to a B. Prepare to spend 10+ hours a week in the lab. Program 1, 3, and 7 are the biggest ****es in my opinion. Good luck, you'll need it.
His lectures are very easy to understand, but he doesn't cover all the material he requires you to know very well (for the programs and exams). Programs are TIME-CONSUMING.
Make sure your have solid basic programming skill before goes to his class. He does not teach how to programm, but teaches many high level concepts. Most of time you'll be left alone to figure out how to do the program alone. Go to tutors for helps
time consuming programming, but can learn high concept programming skills
Class focuses on core programming concepts that are used over and over again in upper division work. Extremely time consuming, but drills concepts into you.
The material isn't too tough, but applying it is. The programs are extremeley long and difficult at first, but you get used to it. I think it's more of a class on programming experience than data structures. Be prepared to do work in C, C++, and Java. Good professor. You'll learn a lot.
Gillespie manages to make even simple ideas incomprehensible. The tutors are fools who don't know what they're doing. The class is a massive waste of time and the professor is infuriating.
Great class, weeds out those who can and can't program. Even if you can, the first few assignments are challenging, but they get better. The web site board is also very helpful. Tests were long but fair. Don't take this class lightly!
This class, the instructor, and the staff simply suck! This class is an example of the simple made complicated. The sad thing is that Gillespie is the only one who teaches this class. I recommend you to be ready to spend most of your study time in this stupid class or take it at state. FU Gillespie
Get prepared to spend ALOT of hours on the projects and be prepared to get frustrated. Sure concepts are made much harder than necessary, but you sure as hell know your stuff at the end of the quarter. Difficult class but you will learn a lot from this class, in regards to the material and life.
make sure to go to class. notes are helpful for programs...and don't wait til the last minute to do the assignments.
Programs are very long and homework instructions are non-existant. The grading is very anal and no one finished the "1 hour, 20 min" midterm that we took 1 hour 40 minutes to write. It looks like he is constantly rolling his eyes at your all during class. Since there is no way to avoid Gilespie and 12, start at least 5 days before the deadline!
People always complain about this class, but its not hard at all if you know what your doing. His lectures are very helpful albeit, a bit dry. I definitely learned a lot this class and Gillespie is a good teacher although he is a bit anal retentive some times. Midterm was hard, but final wasn't to bad.
The concepts in CSE12 are easy, realizing them in code is not. Unfortunately, Gillespie does not help you do that. Most of the time is spent on deciphering the supplied spaghetti code. Despite this, it's his absurd tests for which it's impossible to study for, that pisses me off. His grading curve is also whacked. 89 students =>1 A.
Gary teaches this class as well as it can be taught. This class is a lot of work. However, tutors in lab hours are a very good resource. The first time I took this class I got a D, the second I ended up getting an A just because of the time I spend getting help from tutors. Save yourself the extra effort and do this class right the first time.
Even though Gary may be articulate and knowledgable, he is not a fair teacher. He turns what should be simple tasks into nightmares. Basic data structures are not as complicated as he makes them seem. You'll end up coming feeling like you haven't learned squat, and for the time the coursework consumes, you'll feel ridiculous.
He's the bad boy of the CS department :P Seriously, he's one of the most notorious professor in the CS department cuz he's teaching the weeder class that challenged many prospective CS wannabees (including me) by making it one of the hardest class of CS I've taken so far. Fear not, however, cuz he's a good teacher. And your efforts will be rewarded
worst teacher of all time. data structures are easy, i use them regularly in my code. but coding for this class was a nightmare. he turned easy jobs into impossible tasks. most of the point i lost were due to the wrong indentations! he needs to pay attention to students more than tracker. PLUS code he teaches is NOT industry standard. Be forewarned
Gary is a great prof and the assignments, when compared to what you deal with in later upper division cse classes the projects are neither unreasonable nor hard. This is a great class to prepare you for a cse major and subsequent employment. But people who take this class over and over should just change major, or be prepared to struggle forever.
The class is extremely easy. If you sit in the lecture, he will tell you everything you need to know. If you can't figure it out, maybe you shouldn't be in college.
The G-Man is a good teacher. Watch out for his class cause he will own your ass if you don't pay attention in class. But if you do it's a totally do able class.
I took this class a while back...Gillespie and all his brown nose tutors(past and present) need to chill. This class is restrictive and unnessarily long. I'm complaining and I belong in the CSE department, seeing that I will be in U. of Washington for my Master.
You can't beat his class, as far as amount of material to learn. Sure you only get 10 weeks, but without a doubt its the most coding and learning you'll do regarding to OOD. I guess you can argue that industry wants theory as well, but if you want to get an internship, pay attention on this class. 3 Interviews I had were full of questions directly related to this class, and the material you get tested on.
here is the truth about this class: it is not hard if you listen in lecture and dedicate time for all of your assns. It is SIMPLE to fail this class if you do otherwise. Dont stress about the MT, its only 10%. You wont realize it, but if you do all prog assns, by the time of the final you will know pretty much everything you need for the A or B.
this prof will not show you how to write code. he does not go over what needs to be done. if it was not for the TA i would have failed. half the time he would ask the TA if he new what stuff did want. He is a rude person and does not even look at you when he talks. try to take anyone else for 8b. if you need to talk cse12, sorry it is just him
This class has all the qualities of a horrible class: extremely boring, unnecessarily hard & ridiculously useless. You spend more time & energy in the OO part of the class & get only a shallow understanding of data structures. There's more crap to write about this prof and his class, but due to lack of space, all I have to say is Gillespie sucks!!!
First, DON'T take him for 8B. Second, don't buy the book because it's useless. However, I GUARANTEE you will pass his class if you follow 2 simple keys: 1) Go to every lecture and stay for the whole thing. 2) Work on the assignments right after lecture and on Wednesday in between. This way, you will have the necessary info and help you need.
I was a transfer student and took C/C++JAVA & Datastructures prior to transfer and still had to drop midway. This class is designed to break you, and make you suicidal. Do 90%+ on assignments. He has a real problem with leveling out with students. He makes them feel stupid. He is partial toward women. You have to treat him like a drill instructor
Assignments are very poorly designed, class content is irrelevant to assignments, and explainations are unecessarilly complex. But I can't stress enough how horribly unorganized and poor the homework programming assignments are. He doesn't actually teach anything, then tests students on trivial details. HATE! Avoid at all costs!
This class will take up a lot of time but if you start early and go to labs/class you should be fine. Midterm is super hard and final is hard but if you do well on ur hw you should get an A. He usually drops grading by 10 percent so an 80 would be an A-
Professor Gillespie is a great teacher and very knowledable, he can answer just about any question you would have for him. Assignments can be difficult if you do not apply yourself. This class is a sure A if you pay attention and keep up with reading and asking questions. In general no one is just going to hand you the A
People give prof a much harder time than he deserves. If you're interested in data structures, you'll get that in 100. This class is about using C/C++/Java and learning about programming/OO-techniques. It is not hard to pass this class if you put in the time (not fair to complain about assignments being hard if you start 12 hours before its due).
Gillespie gets an unfair shake. It's true that his analogies are terrible, and that the lectures don't always cover the same material as the assignments, but if you come to class (which many people didn't do) and start the assignments with ample time, you'll be fine. He's a very kind professor, and the final was 100% word-for-word from the quizzes.
His class was difficult but not quite the impossible hell many people make it out to be. The six hours of total class time per week gets pretty grueling (and you better come to all of it!) His tests, especially the midterm, are ridiculously long. Be very careful and do the easy ones first--even so, you probably still won't finish the midterm.
hw takes 10-20hrs a week. its not impossible but is a time sucker. Gary is dry but he is great help in the cpu lab, he knows what he's doing. class is very hard. You will be a much much better programmer after this class. midterm is near impossible but doesn't really effect the grade too much (10% of total). books aren't needed, tutors are.
Totally inept with analogies and explanations of difficult concepts. The notes he provides students are half-filled but still make little sense, and the assignments build on each other so if you messed up on the first one, the following assignments will confuse you. Take this class somewhere else. BTW, the final can TOTALLY screw up those that work the whole quarter but have a temporary memory lapse at the exam.
Very concerned about students' learning. It is a challenging class.
Do you want to be a good computer scientist? Do you actually want to get something out of your education? Take Gillespie --I have taken CS classes from almost 10 different teachers and none of them taught as well as Gillespie does. The homework assignments are hard. But you shouldn't graduate from UCSD without knowing how to complete them.
Very difficult, time-consuming class. Go to the computer lab, because talking to tutors and other students helps a LOT. The more time you spend on the homework, the better your understanding will be. The midterm is difficult and long, but Gary gives grade bumps to people who improve on the final. It will be tough, just bear with it and get through.
At first I took CSE8B with him and I hated him. Then I took CSE12... and found out he was actually a really good professor. Sure the class is hard, but you have to talk to other people: tutor, classmates, the professor. What you learn is FUNDAMENTAL and you will notice that you've come a long way once you are done. I recommend both the prof/course.
gary is extremely concerned with students' learning. he got really bored teaching this class because the concepts are so basic, but he tried to make it interesting. he's a very fair professor. definitely recommend him.
A very hard and time consuming class, but the professor is considerate of your learning. Just get on the programs as soon as possible, and you will at least survive.
The class is difficult and time consuming but you cannot be a capable computer scientist without learning the things you do in this class. Gary is very intelligent yet dry but he throws in humor where he can.
This class takes up most of your time, the professor means well, but he still makes you feel stupid if he answers your post on webboard. He copies a only slightly relevant section from notes in size 50 font bold-faced that still doesn't answer your question. The tutors are your lifeline! Put in your 30 hours a week and you'll do well in this class.
He's a smart guy, but sitting in his class can get really boring. His monotone voice doesn't help at all. But if you do go to him with a question, it helps a lot. Other than that, you're just sitting in lecture to fill in those little blanks in the lesson outlines he hands out every time.
This class isn't hard, it's tedious. I only rated it as hard because that's what makes it hard. I feel like pulling the covers over my head and sleeping for the rest of the quarter and would if my GPA wouldn't suffer. Take it somewhere else if you can. If this is what being a programmer is like then maybe I'll be a poet instead. Somehow, I doubt it
I was very unhappy with this course at first. But Gary urged me to stick around and I'm glad I have. It's been a very rewarding experience -- said with the caveat that if you want the rewards you MUST put in the time. Gary is caring and attentive and his assignments are compelling. If you get stuck DON'T hesitate to go to the lab like I did. Go!
please if you get other choices, do not try his class. is boring, and the tests are hard.. review sheets are useless and midterm are extremely hard.
this class was one of the top 5 worst educational experience experiences i've ever had. there's no way around it either ... prof's been teaching it for > 40 quarters. if you're a cse major, good luck.
For the people complaining about how hard this class is, maybe you're just not cut out for CS. SUre, the programming assignments are hard, but they teach you the essential basics that you should never forget. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go to lab and talk to the tutors! Prof is a bit monotone, but he is a decent teacher.
To the previous poster: the class isn't hard, it's tedious and there are way too many assignments to do much more than fill in the blanks in the already-stubbed-out code provided for each one. If one really wanted to learn this material, it might be better to cut the # of assignments a bit and cover what's left in a bit more detail instead.
Easy class. Lectures not mandatory, but he gives out review sheets that are very similar to the quizzes/tests. Must attend lab!
He may seem aloof and half-asleep, but paradoxically, he's one of the most student-concerned and passionate professors I've ever had. Even though his lectures are really hard to follow, seeing him and the tutors during lab hours will be a good introduction to the helping atmosphere in the labs. Very rewarding (although tough) experience.
Assignments are hard but interesting. He's a good teacher but hard to follow his notes sometimes. Midterm and final are hard for sure. Tutors are helpful but some didn't even know what they are doing. Overall the class is hard but doable.
you will learn a great deal in this class. The trade off is that the assignments are HARD , time consuming and frustrating...and the tests are near impossible. the avg on midterm was around 50% .. he wont be teaching this class anymore after 09 fall..if you dont wanna be pulling ur hair out half of the time, u prlly wanna wait until 09 to take him.
This is a difficult class. Lecture and both discussions are both mandatory. You learn a lot and the professor is nice, but this class will eat your time (think double digits). Long line for tutors. That being said it's a good learning experience. Midterm and final are confusingly worded and hard. Test cases are unexpected.
Great class, I learned more in this class than any other class I've taken here. The midterm and finals were hard, and they didn't reflex what was learned in the class. This is one of those classes that the grade probably doesn't reflex what was learned.
A weeder class for CSE majors, which is totally good considering that CS is no longer impacted. Sad they're changing the curriculum but also I feel bad for future CSE students missing out on such a great learning experience. Difficult class. But who will ever know now?
This class is so easy! Content is boring, lectures are boring. But he gives extra credit questions to the people that go to class (worth 5-10 points on the midterm & final & make a big difference)! I went to class, just went on my computer & didn't really pay attention. He puts all the slides online. Gary is cool! EASY CLASS.
This class is pretty easy, it's just annoying all the small things you have to worry about. You do learn a lot; however, his lecture is soo boring-he has such a monotone voice, and he always drinks caprisun in class
Gary's a good guy and he tried fairly hard to put together an interesting and different course for us. If you don't learn anything in this class, then it's your faulty. I've found much of the course matter quite useful.
Say what you will, this guy's really really passionate about the class and truly cares for his students. My advice: take the quizzes, midterm and final seriously and make sure the documentation for your project is flawless.
Dude, this guy was amazing! Totally cares about his students and is passionate about what he does. I loved his in-class puns and how he shared upcoming events like talks with his students (the free food at the talk which he paid for was super). He's a buddy-teacher and legend. Def my fav class this quarter.
Very easy class, as it's basically a large seminar. You have the opportunity to see a completely new world of CSE outside programming and he often tries and succeeds to inspire. Having said that, there will undoubtedly be some times where you feel your attention would be better spent elsewhere.
His lectures and projects are very practical and prepares students for the real world. He is very methodical, organized, and provides information and tests in a timely manner.
one of the worst experiences ive ever had. cant expect everyone in a group to be motivated when there are TEN (10!!!) people in a group. reads off wikipedia and the textbook during class. the one of the most passive aggressive professors i have ever had. i honestly dont understand what other students see in him other than his pithy sarcasm.
Discussions were helpful in the beginning, but assignments are getting harder and discussions don't cover enough for how to complete them. The specs on the guides are also unclear and confusing. Class expects you to catch on to C and C++ in a short amount of time if you don't already have experience. Class seems more challenging than it should be.
He is a nice Professor. He cares about his students (although it doesn't seem like it in lecture, but talking to him 1 on 1 will show you that). However, he is just not clear enough. He teaches like you already know it. I ended up withdrawing, and I will probably switch majors. I think if I had a better teacher I would have made it in CS.
Pure agony (despite coming in w/ extensive prev. exp.). Lectures are mundane, information is fragmented, discussions are useless, tutors are overwhelmed. Gary uses proprietary algorithms (no online help). CSE12 is not so much about data structures; more like "hack&slash around in C++ & conform to Gary's artificial constraints". ~20% fail rate BTW.
For those of you complaining, the average of our class is a B+. If you were not able to get through 12 (after giving it your all), then switching your major is actually the right thing to do. Thank Gary for helping you make that decision. I had no C/C++ experience and was able to do just fine with 15+ hours of work every week.
Has own ways of writing data structures compared to commonly practiced methods. Lectures are bland and chaotic. Those who say "you learn a lot" and that lectures are useful are brainwashed and fail to understand that the majority of the content being taught is his own specific way of doing things and not basic concepts that should be taught.
WOW WE LOVE YOU GARY
One word to describe amount of time this class requires: inappropriate. By far the most time consuming class I have ever taken. 20+ hrs a week just on the assignments. Not fair to your other professors the time this class takes. Grading is way too harsh for the time invested. Stop drinking the Kool-aid, Gary is unlikeable and a miserable teacher
He's okay. His course was pretty well-designed and I learned a lot. But he isn't so good in the classroom. It's hard to pay attention for the most part, although he can be funny sometimes. I have also seen him ignore raised hands in lecture (even after asking "any questions" himself) over 15 times in a quarter.
"Advanced Implementations of Basic Data Structures in Three Programming Languages with Course Material Accumulated Over 20 Years or so." I spent ungodly amounts of time just trying to implement the assignment specs rather than understanding and experimenting with the data structures themselves, all of which I have implemented before attending UCSD!
The problem with this course is not the difficulty of the material, it is easy to understand and implement; the problem is that the assignments, quizzes, exams, hell almost ALL OF THE MATERIAL consists of proprietary knowledge created by Gary, much of which having no practical application outside of the classroom. Nonsensical and convoluted course.
C and C++ are not introduced in any capacity within the UCSD computer science curriculum before CSE12. The books on these two (advanced) languages average 1200-1500 pages (I've read them). Combine that with an introductory data structures course and you basically have someone who is either out of touch and/or should not be teaching.
The ideas introduced in this class are quite easy. The class itself is made difficult by a lack of cohesion and structure. All of the ideas are here however, Gary introduces them in a way that can be difficult to understand. The class is a lot of work, which is quite useful. His tests are extremely difficult not because of content but translation.
Absolute nightmare, he sets grade-destroying traps into his assignments you can only find by paying acute attention in every lecture/discussion. He likes to waste students time, spending an entire lecture on "reception" when he pissed off alot of students. Artificially inflates the difficulty of the class. Very full of himself.
Class is not difficult if you start your homework early, I mean really early so you can get a lot of help, and also have time to test your code extensively. It is not hard to get an A in this class as long as you are persistent. The quizzes were easy, the final was straightforward, and there were no surprises., but not easy.
He makes the class much harder than it needs to be. Expect around 20 hours to do the HW. Requires you to write in C and C++ without teaching anything about those languages. Forces you to attend the lectures by not providing any source of notes outside of class. If you miss a class his only solution is get notes from a friend. Take anyone but him.
Gary is a great professor.You will definitely learn a lot from him.The class is not hard,but challenging.After taking cse12,cse30 and cse100 becomes a piece of cake for me since both of them requires the knowledge of c and c++.
quizzes come straight from review questions
Tough class, but you'll learn a lot. In my year (WI 14), he taught the class in Java, C++, and C. Programming assignments are not too bad, but quite time consuming. The final was really intense - I thought I did decent, but I ended up getting a C+ on it.
His lectures are extremely dull. He reminds me of Ben Stein. However, he knows what he's talking about and the class is not very hard. Some of the lab quizzes can be tricky and he does a good review for the exams.
Tough teacher, really tough grader. Learned a lot but at what cost :(
Class was stupid hard.
This class really forces you to learn data structures on your own, as well as C and C++. Most students coming into this class have no prior knowledge of programming languages other than Java. Assignments are hard conceptually, but code is not too bad honestly. Final half memorization, half testing you on assignments, but still pretty hard.
He is a terrible teacher and his assignment prompts are not clear at all. He sometimes focuses on material that everybody is lost on. The final is just plain stupid and doesn't test what you know but how much you can copy Gary.
Gary's CSE 12 class is time consuming (10-15 hrs for assignments) but is worth taking as it covers many CS fundamentals and provides exposure early on. Gary is very generous with the curve and extra credit opportunities. Quizzes are easy as he provides you all the questions ahead of time. Final is hard but based off memorization of concepts taught.
Just avoid Gary ! ! He is the one that would made you give up studying cs.
Do yourself a favor and do not take this professor. Seriously, even if you need this class, wait until its offered by another instructor. He is not meant to teach. Worst professor I had in my entire life. The assignment can easily take up to 20+ hours, not because they are hard or challenging, but because you need encode what he wants you to do.
Literally the crappiest teacher I have ever taken. Doesn't like to lecture, rather he just brags about how great he is but when students have questions, he ends up saying "Oh sorry, we don't have time to go over that". Big ego but he doesn't even have a Ph.D. Won't answer your questions. You won't learn anything from him. Avoid at all costs!
I learned more in this class than any other CSE course I have taken, possibly any other class at UCSD
CSE 12 is a tough class and Gary is a tough grader. He's not mean about it though, he just genuinely holds his students to high standards and curves generously at the end. CSE 12 is a big weeder class and I see people who take it with other professors hit a brick wall when they get to the higher classes. Build a strong foundation and take Gary.
Learned a lot from this class. However, it was tough. Assignments took around 20-30 hours each with one a week. Midterm and final were pretty much straight memorization. Still would take Gary again though.
Gary's cse12 is one of the hardest but most rewarding experiences at ucsd and he's there to help. Go to both discussions, attend every lecture, and pay attention enough to fill out the blanks in the notes and you'll be in a good place. The pa's are time consuming but you learn so much from them and you'll leave the class a much better cs student.
He seems like a nice person, but he is really bad at teaching. We learn so many new concepts, and work with three languages, and his lectures only confuse you even more. On top of that, there isn't even a textbook to help supplement the syllabus and his poor teaching. I cant say I have learned much, and I really wanted to. Avoid him by all means.
Awesome Teacher!
Tough class, and strict on questions.
This class requires A LOT of time-- probably like 15-20 hours a week on assignments. There were so many opportunities for extra credit in this class though. Quizzes were very easy, just straight memorization. Final was mostly based on homework assignments so make sure you understand them thoroughly.
Gary is a brilliant man and a great instructor. I enjoyed speaking to him after class; he's so approachable and will always help with programming assignments. The material is challenging and will make you think, but you will know exactly how to approach homework if you do think about it. Final is long, but not THAT hard. Great class!
Time-consuming but helpful assignments, and in the end his high expectations really helped me learn. The final is very hard, but the class is curved and there is plenty of extra credit.
Probably the worst teacher that I have ever had in my life. Hated him so bad. Yes, I am using the word "hate" correctly here. I passed that class with a B, but I did not learn anything from him. I ended up watching youtube and reading stuff on Google. He does NOT know how to teach.
Please do not make this the first computer science class you take at UCSD like I did if you do not have a lot of programming experience. You will most likely regret it. Come prepared for in-class quizzes. He's a nice guy to talk to outside of class but I wouldn't want to learn from him.
You don't know how helpful taking him will be until you reach higher division courses. You definitely don't want to go into CSE30, 100 unprepared because oh boy... I feel like he's pretty underrated in his reviews due to people not doing too well. Just be prepared to lock in! You will learn so much!!
Prof Gillespie is an awesome teacher. His assignments are incredible helpful for interviews and learning for upper div classes. Every class you learn something that would be an interview question. His assignments are hard but I learned so much! Commit to his class and you'll really enjoy it. Others complaining probably started PAs late.
Definitely will take Gary over any other 12 teacher. Prepares you extremely well for the upcoming classes. Class may be tough, but with the help of tutors, a good grade is definitely possible. Programming assignments due every week and quizzes are easy since he will give you all the answers before hand.
The low score for Gary shouldn't discourage students from taking his classes. Yes, his 12 class is tough. Yes, you need to put in a ton of work. But Gary prepares you EXTREMELY well for the rest of your CS courseload (which is much more challenging). If you can't hack it in his class, you should seriously (honestly) consider changing your major.
No textbook articulated for this course. Use the notes given in lecture in order to save you hours of googling and guessing. Kinda thrown into C/C++ , but when you get the hang of it the class is a breeze & glad we get a head start into 30
You're gonna learn a lot if you take Gary. Now while I don't think his lectures or his final are necessarily amazing, I do think the way he makes you work for the homework is the best way to learn. As for the lectures, he kind of just throws a bunch of information at you that you haven't learned yet, and things will begin to click as you do the hw.
87.7 is not a solid B
People always say 12 with Gary is hard but I found it alright as long as youre willing to make the effort. Quizzes are easy. Final wasn't easy or difficult, it was fair. You learn a lot through the assignments. Go to class, notes are fill in and he gives you things that help w/ the HW. Go to discussion, gives you code for the HW which helps a lot
He seems to be nice at first. But he is very arrogant and does not pay a lot respect to those beginners who may ask some stupid questions. He may seems to be funny, but sometimes a little over.
VERY monotonous. started every class w/ a 'story from industry', typically about how he'd been offended/slighted by other people. Sarcastic, and has a sense of humor, but his 'stories' made me just ignore him until he started actually teaching, usually some 30 min later. an ok teacher, monotonously read topics off the book and/or a summary of wiki.
While Gary's class is definitely hard, if you put in the work necessary, you will be so much better off than if you took any other 12 professor. His homework assignments are very good at teaching you relevant material. Quizzes are not tough, and there are no assigned readings. All-in-all, a great and educational cse class.
I didn't learn anything from his lectures. We would read from the textbook or wikipedia in a monotone voice for 70 minutes straight. I ended up having to find youtube videos about the topics online. His test / quiz questions are vague and specific to his lectures and the poorly written textbook.
Monotone, literally reads from Wikipedia for his lecture, final exam didn't represent what he suggested to study, talks too much about "industry" stories and how he was morally superior (or so he says) and does not help students whatsoever. Avoid at all costs.
The breadth of information in this course was vast. It's all useful information, but hard to remember every little detail. Gary is kind of monotone, but he still tries to make the class interesting. Midterm was absolutely brutal, and much too long for the 50 minute class. Final was fair. Somewhat ambiguous questions though.
Honestly a pretty difficult class but definitely do-able. Teaches pretty well and has very clear lecture notes and I really liked his lecture style. He also is always open for assistance and he clearly knows what he talking about. 10/10 would recommend if you're actually trying to learn
Great professor for 15L. Practically a walking man page. He explains concepts of bash and scripting very well and demonstrates the use of many applicable commands in class.
One word to describe Gary--thorough. He REALLY makes sure you understand everything. Any holes in your understanding will definitely hurt you in the PA's and especially the final exam. That aside, he is a great professor. His material really prepare you for other CSE courses by teaching you more beyond Data structures.
This course is hard as it covers C Java and C++, three kinds of language. However, after Gary's class, you feel great achievement and clearly understand the how the data works, it will be helpful to people who want to continue their careers in data management. Overall, a great professor which need you commit your time to the HW and course material.
Gary definitely cares about his students. If anything he made the class difficult so we could have more challenges. More challenges means more growth as a programmer. The homework is the hardest part because the grading can get tough and there's just a lot going on. A lot of it can be so new, and that's why it takes time. But quizzes are super easy
I found Gary's class to be excessive. It is a test of strength and endurance. If you want to test yourself then take the class. He is like a coach that pushes you to your breaking point just to see how hard you can work yourself. He's a good guy and I thought I would take his class because I heard you learn a lot. In retro wasn't worth the pain.
Best professor I've ever had. Choose him. You won't regret.
I've heard that he's kind of tough when it comes to 4-unit classes, but, as a 2 unit lab class, he's fine. He said there'd be about 1 hour of homework per week, and he was true to his word. You have at most 2 hours of homework, usually around 1-1.5 hours. When he talks, he seems pretentious and condescending at times, but I guess that's just him.
Half the lecture was just him telling stories about experience from his previous work as a software engineer. The other half was going over lecture notes, which he posts online. But you can't rely on them for studying for quizzes because half the quiz is on information (which is often just life advice quotes he makes up) he gives during lecture.
He requires people to go to lectures in order to fill out notes; however, a large portion of lecture periods are wasted on random stories that he tells. In addition, he expects students to learn C and C++ with the only real instructions being "copy the code from Java and Google any errors you have".
Gives incredibly difficult programming assignments that are super difficult for people who don't have experience in C and C++, although the course material is supposed to be in Java. Assignments take 15 hours a week. Final was 525 points and expected you to memorize various paragraphs and write them word for word.
It's honestly the worst class I've taken so far in UCSD. You worked with a group of ten students on a quarter-long project. You can do whatever you want but even though you spend 30 hours a week the grade is still dependent on his ridiculous quizzes and all the artifacts you made. Do yourself a favor and avoid!!!
I'd love for Gary to feature this on his self-masturbation at the start of CSE 12. That aside, even though it might be fun to work on a project of your choosing, the rest of the class leaves you woefully unprepared in valuable knowledge. 50% of lecture time is spent by Gary directly reading from Wikipedia or highlighting a textbook. Dont take him.
Gary is hard. Be ready to devote up to to 15-20 hours per week towards PA's, and his tests are no joke. Got to lecture and fill out the handout he gives you, and DO NOT miss discussion, as that is where he gives very important details about the assignments. its cliche but very true: if you put in the work Gary will make you a better programmer.
Good at coding already with some background in data structures/ADTs? If so, you (like me) will hardly struggle in this course and will find it to be a pretty easy A. If not, get ready to spend most of your free time in the dungeon slaving away at the assignments. Start early on them, pay attention in class, and do your own research to truly do well
In this class, you learn Java, C, and C++ all in ten weeks... Well, not learn, but more like get acquainted with the languages. Still, taking CSE12 with Gary means that you might have an easier time with CSE30 and CSE100. Gary is difficult, but not impossible - Start early, though. You'll get extra credit for it (that is hopefully not taken away).
Gary is there to really test you and prepare you for CSE100. You'll learn c and c++ in a java class. Go to lecture - lecture notes and discussion give you a lot of help on the homework. Heavily work on labs all year to risk 40% on the final. Be prepared to memorize content very quickly.
He really cares about his students and the material. People say he's unreasonably difficult, but if you go to class and work diligently on your assignments, you'll do fine! Highly recommend him-I learned SO much.
DO NOT take his CSE110, he will ruin your life
The only thing I would complain about Gary's CSE12 is the final for which we had to memorize too many OOP designs. Overall his class is awesome in preparing you for future C-focused classes, and thanks to that, C language feature in CSE30 is never a problem to me. His lecture notes do help a lot. Assignments are designed cumulative and reasonable.
As announced at the final exam, the grade breakdown will be posted on Piazza early this week. I also announced that my deadline to submit grades is Tuesday. Asking about the course graded before the grade deadline is like me asking for your programming submission before the assignment deadline.
Don't take him if you don't have experience in building a web application, he assumes that you know everything about it. If you expect to learn something from this class, AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS!
Gary is just very hard. That is all I can say. Take him if you already know the most of the concepts to just reinforced your knowledge. If not, he will destroy you and make you drop out from college.( Especially transfer student)
His tone seldom changes during class and he is tough in class, homework and tests.
His professionalism system has given me great insight and has helped me grow as a person. Whenever he took away my professionalism, I realized that I had made a terrible mistake and did my best to correct my poor behavior. Everyone should take a class with Gary so that the modern day workplace can fix the lack of professionalism so prevalent now
very very bad, don't teach anything useful or even I don't call that relevant knowledge, bunch of restrictions
Every morning I do CS, and every afternoon I finish my PA. At night, I lie awake in agony knowing I've just climbed out of the pit, only to be pushed back in by none other than Gary Gillespie and his hauntingly beautiful power stache. Taking this professor was the worst mistake I've ever made, and I put ERC down as my preferred residential college
It's a difficult class, but you'll definitely walk away feeling proud of your learning accomplishments. After taking CSE 12 with Gary, I can confidently walk away saying I feel confident about working with C & C++ and analyzing/implementing data structures. Go to all discussions / submit all programming assignments on time and you'll be just fine.
CSE 12 has to be my favorite class I've taken so far because it's really helped me become more passionate about CS. The tutor hours were lifesavers and I learned so much in the course. Also, definitely do not miss out on the chance to take Gary's class because you will find 80% of the memes on Facebook and Reddit relatable.
When you accept an offer, the company and its people begin to rely on you, and they become invested in the positive outcome resulting from that relationship. Your future actions, whether positive or negative, rub off on those who stood beside you and this is with UCSDs reputation with Microsoft. Unfortunately it's a sad situation.
Words can't even describe how GODLY Gary is. If you ever get the chance to have the one and only Gary Gillespie as an instructor don't hesitate because you'll gain great skills with professionalism, being dependable when accepting an internship, and most of all that mustache. Unfortunately its a sad situation when students bag on him.
Gary likes to talk a lot and often ties in his personal experiences and computer science jokes into the lecture. He is a very good professor who genuinely cares about his students. My advice is to go to class, study for the 5 quizzes, and be sure to turn in all homework at least 3 days early for maximum extra credit points!
Class 2000. I was #1 in his classes. Go gradestat! He is a truly inspiring teacher. I will never forget him and what he has taught me. Im glad to see that nothing has changed.
I have been sitting through his CSE classes just for the sake for learning so im not biased cuz of grades. He is absolutely the worst professor i have seen. Not well prepared and never care if students were following him. I have been watching other professor's podcasts and every of those is better than his lecture. I dont even know why is he hired.
Compare to other 8A professors, he is the worst one. If there is other professors available at the same time, take someone elses class.
Decent lecturer, structure of the class was garbage. All quizzes/test are memorization, must know specific phrasing that is only relevant in the context of the class/hw, ie "What was the point of the counter in hw5?". A quarter of the final was straight regurgitation of two pages that were spontaneously created during the review session!
Theres a ton of memes about Gary but I gotta say... if it werent for his 12 class I wouldnt be where I am at today. Coming into UCSD with no experience in coding, after CSE 12 with Gary, I attained the skills I needed to get my first internship. The PAs are absolutely brutal but they force you to learn the content.
Gary is a great person but his lectures can get boring sometimes, especially when he gets sidetracked telling stories. Lots of homework but extra credit if you turn it in early.
Gary gets sidetracked a lot telling stories that have nothing to do with curriculum. As a result, lectures can either be boring or entertaining, depending on the story he tells. The whole course is a group project, so be prepared for that.
His policy of extra credit for early work was pure genius. It gave me an incentive to start my assignments early and this habit has carried over to my other classes too. His tests were also relevant to the lectures. These positives STRONGLY outweigh the negatives that people outline in their reviews. If you care about the bottom line, choose Gary.
I will not say too much about CSE110. But Gary personally is a great person and he cares about his students. He shows cares to every student, and wants everyone to improve.
Very clear and specific. Everything is laid out in the beginning of the year, from every point to be graded to every extra credit opportunity. Very few things are changed, and he has taught this course so many times that he truly knows every answer to every question.
Worst CSE professor you could ever have. He told a lot of useless and misleading info. Expect to learn nothing and spend more than 10 hours after class for non-sense stuff
I took Gary last quarter and despite what everyone says about him, he is honestly a very caring professor and is a fair grader. His discussions are very helpful for the PAs and he also gives out extra credit for turning PAs in early. His quizzes are memorization, so they are not bad. Gary also teaches C and C++ which is helpful for future courses.
He just didn't do it for me. Most of my time was spent on figuring out low level programming language details and debugging rather than on actual data structures. Too many trees without the forest. Most of grade is based on rote memorization rather than on conceptual knowledge. Only acquired superficial understanding of intended knowledge. Avoid
You learn a lot from Gary's CSE 12 since you do your PAs using both C and C++ but you learn almost everything from yourself. Lectures are boring and barely helpful since Gary literally reads the concepts on the handout without giving sensible explanations. Ready to spend hours each week on the material, and spend another 15+ hours on each PA.
He's the worst professor I've ever taken. By asking around that seems to be the case. Lectures are super boring. You're not allowed to discuss anything during lectures. Instead of posting complete lecture handouts, he posted ones with blank so you're forced to go to lectures and discussion to be able to do homework. Tests are memorization heavy.
A terrible professor. Quizzes often surprise you with unexpected nonsense. Homework is 50% the course, worst I've seen yet. You could be a master coder and it would still boil down to trying random nonsense until something sticks. IE, I spent 10+ hours debugging the code that THEY GAVE US, before starting. Don't take if you value your health.
He takes the project roles very seriously. Expect to work 10 hr/week. It's not easy at the end of the quarter, but you can rely on group a lot. That said it was cool being treated as an actual developer with freedom to make whatever you wanted. I 100% recommend his lectures about real world software development. SO many facts everyone should know.
The project is a lot of work but if you have a good team then you'll be fine. Gary loves reading from Wikipedia and a textbook. For the quizzes, most questions are on quizlet but there are always 1 or 2 where you just have to remember every single word uttered from his mouth. Final is just a mega quiz. Very monotone but this is part of the meme.
Horrible lecturer. Would never take his class again 10/10. I learn better from random youtube video . He makes fill in the blanks worksheet for every lecture, basically reads out the answers and give poor and abstract explanation. PAs are manageable thanks to the tutors.
Gillespie is the worst professor I have ever taken. He posts no resources so you have to go to his boring lecture where he reads of a word document with fill in the blanks. The homeworks are ridiculously hard. He put me off CS in general. Avoid at all costs
Professor Gary's class is just boring and useless, you will learn nothing in his class. He has teached cse12 for many years and his class still shows no improvement. Probably worst cse professor in ucsd...
His lectures are boring. However, the homework takes around 1hr each week with a mandatory 2hr lab session every week. You will get an A if you study hard before the tests.
Lectures are usually boring and unnecessary. However, there were some funny moments that nearly made me cry and had me laughing for the whole lecture time. The grade is mostly based on labs which are generally pretty fun and easy. The tests were easy and studied by just looking at the his slides that he posts and doing the practice tests.
Don't take this class if you're not prepared to spend 15+ hours on one project every week and put 200% effort. Most of the students who do well have experience in coding and those who don't end up dropping/doing poorly. Some graders are ridiculous and mark you down for the dumbest things and regrading policy is dumb as well. Makes you learn C & C++
Labs mandatory, others not. Lectures are not so exciting, but if you know a little about Linux, C/C++, and Java, you will find everything the professor says makes sense. (Otherwise, you may not really understand all stuffs in lecture and feel stressed during review) Try to remember every point the professor makes and every linux command in lectures
An acquired taste. His PA's take a ton of time and he does not explain them well during discussion, but tutors save the day. Class is worth taking as it challenges you and prepares you for future classes. Put in the work and you will get a good grade, especially with EC from homework.
Honestly the class isnt too tough if you just go to tutors when youre stuck on the PAs, but he is just an awful professor in my opinion. Hes super arrogant and talks like he has all the answers to life when in reality hes worked as a software engineer for a couple companies. Hes nothing special but acts like he is, and its hard to deal with.
One of the worst CSE teachers at UCSD. No podcasts/slides released. His PA's are worth almost 50% of your grade, yet the write ups are difficult to understand and take 10+ hours/week. He jumps straight into C/C++ without ever teaching you, so you are expected to just figure it out. I dropped and took with Cao; best decision of my life. STAY AWAY
This guy has no idea how to teach/manage a class. The tutors for this class are so scared to even talk to you because of AI so they just don't help at all even if you ask a question that has nothing to do with an assignment /project. You can't count on the help of teaching staff to learn in this course.
A terrible teacher, never take a look at his lecture and always make some revision on class, the most said is "I don't know and I guess". try to make himself humor but very ridiculous, the worst I have ever met!
He grew on me I'm gonna be honest, I was NOT a fan of his lecturing, just word documents full of text with few visual examples. Big part of this class is the PAs which make up 55% of the grade, go to discussion where he'll answer most of the questions asked. Take advantage of the extra credit you get for submitting early, my B could have been a A
30% attendance grade is from attending 2 hour labs once a week, usually pretty fun imo. 50% is from projects which you have 3 of them, and they call take 1-3 hours max. I stopped going to Lectures week 4 and just studied the final review session, got a 95% on the final because most of what was in the lectures was in the Labs and review.
This course is relatively easy. The lectures for the most part are useless. The slides are posted on piazza and you can go and read them right before your lab. Don't stress about labs (I was virtual). You can go in not understanding the lecture and you will probably be fine. Study for the final and make sure to start early on scripting projects.
This class provides you the basic techniques for other classes. It was an easy A. Save the lectures and labs, you may need them for other classes. You don't have to attend the lectures in order to do good in labs, but it would help you understand the materials better and prepare for the final.
Gary's CSE12 is a rite of passage for CS majors at UCSD. He no longer teaches this class in C/C++ but you're still offered extra credit for using C/C++ for his PAs. Lectures are clear and I personally find the format very helpful. His PAs are tough but that's what tutors are for. Start early since there's extra credit for turning it in early.
He is one of the worst CSE instructors that I have had in my life. if you really want to learn your course, never ever take him.
Professor Gillespie is the worst professor I have had so far. His lectures are so confusing and boring that it does not matter if you attend the lectures. The only good thing about the class was the amount of homework resources, but even with those resources, be prepared to spend 20+ hours a week working on each PA.
One of the toughest cs courses I have ever taken. Say bye bye to all 10 of your weekends because you will be spending it on the programming assignments. Half the time you will spend trying to understand the writeup. You must attend the lecture and discussion sessions to even have a chance at completing the assignments in time for extra credit.
Hard to discuss him, you love him or hate him. Lectures were pretty boring but discussion sections are absolutely necessary for PAs. PAs themselves are intensely paced and teach you to start early and often, otherwise itll be a pain. Biweekly quizzes are really easy. Overall, Garys nice but you really need to step up your work ethic to keep up.
Gary is the best professor in the CS department, he cares about his students and helps them as much as he can, very nice person, his lectures are very clear and they are very helpful, the quiz questions come directly from the practice quiz, the class is time-consuming, but you learn a lot. consider starting PAs early and going to the tutor's hours.
He's a great person, but the class itself is just the most unclear and difficult class I have ever taken. Literally everything in this class is confusing and insanely difficult, unless you go through a lottery system and get a good TA that will spend 2 hours just for you to complete your homework. It's so unnecessary to make a basic class like this
BAD! explaining the important concepts badly. homework has ridiculous restriction and is hard to understand. no response from homework until the finalized score comes out(no resubmit chance). could lose more than half of the points even the the code works perfectly in your own tests. did not post any notes for you except for an mostly empty sheet
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