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examples, but on paper, help available, hw grading unclear, tests not bad

Not as bad as everyone says... but you do have to have a strong C++ background.

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She didn't always define important words but very helpful outside of class.

knows material very well. great job explaining details/ answering questions

Why are there so many bad reviews? Most of you probably had more programming experience than I did when I took CS 2005. YOU NEED TO READ THE BOOK. Professors are not there to spoonfeed you!

Her class isn't easy. You need to follow the reading assignment schedule and take notes. She was also very helpful whenever I came to see her during her office hours or contacted her through email.

Easy class, taught well, programming needed, ignore the readings, but was good for test.

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VERY GOOD professor! She made things VERY clear and provided adequate assistance and fast replies to e-mail. She should teach ALL CS Courses!!!

Why are you all whining about hamel. She certainly wasn't a bad teacher. She went over all the topics and explained them clearly, we had a book which supported what was being taught, projects which reinforced what was being learned, and accurate tests.

I found Professor Hamel to be one of the best instructors that I've ever had. I learned a lot.

Very clear & easy to understand

The only reason that she has low ratings is because she gets a lot of non majors who don't like CS, in her class. this isn't her fault

I think that Prof. Hamel deals with difficult course material well. She explains things fully and is always there to answer questions and offer help. I don't think that she's a bad professor at all.

Very clear and easy to understand. Homeworks and tests were not that hard.

Very clear teaching style.

The homeworks and tests are good ascessments of how you will do in the course. If you have taken EE2022, and know any programming, this class should be cake. The class is well structured, and the professor will always stop to answer questions.

wow, very clear lectures, but the homeworks are damn difficult. Tests are fairly easy if you know the materials

The new Scheme class that replaces CS 1005. Difficult course! (probably because scheme sucks) Nice professor though. Tries hard to help you understand the material. Definately DONT GET BEHIND and go to office hours for help when needed.

The class was kind of hard but I have no complaints with the teacher. She presented clearly, was well prepared, friendly and willing to help.

I can't believe Professor Hamel is rated this low. She is an incredible professor. The tests were difficult, but definately doable if you studied hard enough. The programs were excellent in terms of material covered and difficulty. They weren't outrageously difficult yet still far from simple.

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Could ace the homework (which can sometimes take 4 hours to complete, however) but the tests were a lot harder than expected. The test she gives should have a two hour time slot, not one. Very thorough in class and lots of TAs with office hours for help.

The homework could take HOURS to do (sometimes upwards of 5+). Class went over things, but not in depth enough for her unproportionately hard tests.

Very clear and well organized. Would take a class with her again.

I think she is a decent teacher. It doesn't help that the material she is teaching (Scheme) is the most impossible language ever. But she seems to know it well and is willing to help anyone having trouble. Homework takes too long but tests are fair.

Had her for CS1101 in A Term. Very good class, made learning a new language easy (even though Scheme sucks). Very understandable for people both with and without prior CS experience. Homeworks can be challenging though, and exams may trip you up, but it's not too bad (gives plenty of help in class). Definitely recommend to have her as a professor.

Very clear in explaining things,and very logical.The homework is not easy and really takes a lot of time, but it worth trying.First 2 exams are fine but the final is scary...

Ms. Hamel was an excellent teacher. She is the perfect teacher to introduce programming to first-year students. She is easy to understand and her homework and classes are fair. Classes encourage to ask questions and there are an adequate amount of help from Ms. Hamel and her several teaching assistants.

No no no no NO NO NO NO!!!!

If you think this woman is mean, you will NOT survive in engineering. Period. If anything, this class was too slow-paced. I don't like having to show up for in-class problems, though, but it's graded so that you can bail on a fair amount of those and labs and still crush it.

She stresses office hours! And it is really helpful!

During class, she created elaborate and hard to follow diagrams of classes and interfaces that took up several chalk boards. Homework is hard so pick a good hw partner! Final and midterm are hard because you have to code on paper - there's nothing to tell you when you forgot a ; or )

Instructor Hamel is great for new CS students; she helps weed out those who just aren't ready to be programmers. This intro class used Scheme, which is an amazing language for beginners. People who says Scheme sucks probably didn't do well in the class or just aren't meant to be software engineers. Some of her TA's are terrible.

Exceptional teacher for a student with no background in programming. Her lectures are well organized and clear. She teaches in scheme, a language that most of the class (which experienced students) hates. Those people pretend they know all about programming and don't accept her style of teaching. If you want to learn, listen to her!

Great for ppl new to programming. Its called Racket now btw and its crazy simple. You don't use dashes and dots and stuff u legit just type out what u want and it does it. The ppl who say its difficult are complete idiots. Crazy simple class, good clear instructions. Easy A

Great professor! I don't know why people have bad comments about her but I think she is fairly clear about everything! Also my friends who's taking CS2102 with another professor said they would love to have her instead of the professor they are having now!

Great professor. Always answering questions with nice attitude and high clarity. You will get A if you work on it. I think scheme is a good language to built concepts of programme. Highly recommendation to students who learn programme first time.

A very good teacher. She was very clear with her explanations and really emphasized coming to numerous office hours for help if you did not understand anything. Very helpful especially if you have never programmed before. This was my first time programming and I enjoyed the class. Too bad she didn't teach CS2102 when I took it.

Great professor for introductory level to Computer Science. I changed my major into CS after her course. She is good at explaining, focus on applying->Great teacher

Very clear teacher. Gives examples in class that are very helpful. Study the class examples and homework for exams, and you'll do fine. However, she will NOT give in and bump you up a letter grade, no matter what you do.

Good teacher, will go over a subject multiple times if asked. Makes good use of projector and hand written notes. Take notes and the tests aren't too bad, and are curved.

Examples are clear and responds to emails quickly. Changed my major to CS after this class!

She will make you like CS!

Best prof I've had at WPI. Her teaching is so clear. Now I love CS and want to major in it. Make sure you bring your laptop to class though, because it's easier if you follow along with her, in DrRacket.

Took Java with her. As soon as anyone found out, they'd say "Why didn't you take it with Fisler?" Honestly she wasn't terrible, but she was really boring and did not really explain why things worked the way they do. The first week was translating Racket to Java, which was really slow and painful, but things get more interesting later.

Overall very understandable and very good at answering questions effectively.

For someone whose never programmed, she's a great teacher for this course. She has a clear loud voice for a large lecture hall. She has many examples to help you understand what's going on and explains how they work. Her tests aren't awful. They may be tricky but she lets you have a cheat sheet front and back. She taught in DrRacket.

Overall, I'd say she is good but her tests are VERY tricky. Going from never programmed before to having to program under time is extremely hard. Her test curve was 80 avg for first test then 70 avg for second and the final was like 50avg. Extremely difficult professor. Her tests are meant to trick you.

Interesting course with great organization. Exams are given back the day after and the grades could often be seen already the same night. I did not have any previous experience with programming so the programming language racket, did not bother me at all. In the first half of the course we had to watch several lecture videos every day as homework.

Overall a pretty good class. Very clearly organized and easy to understand. Made me be a little interested in CS. Definitely would recommend this class.

Professor Hamel's explanations are usually fairly straightforward and she is helpful answering questions. Grading could be more fair, though, considering she would not scale an exam grade with a below-passing class average. -Some of TAs were unhelpful, other excellent. Overall I found the class worthwhile and would recommend it despite the issues.

Prof Hamel did an OK job introducing students to CS, but CS 2102 with her did not go too well. She is always willing to take your questions and would go all length to help you, just didn't play too well with java and OO programming. CS1101 was OK, but Racket? Really?! Non-majors should just take C or Python for non majors...

When I first walked into class, I could smell the mellifluous aura of her computer science skills. It sparked my passion for Java, which reminds me of a mocha latte on a glistening sunset.

Very good instructor. Tests were pretty easy and homework really prepared me for the exams. She does assign videos each night and gives daily quizzes on them but they don't take up too much time

Initially, I was in CS 1102. After about a week, I switched down into Professor Hamel's class. She taught at a much slower pace, one that was actually beneficial to me. Nearly every day we were assigned videos to watch and then quizzed on them the next day. She is very fair about grading and is willing to talk to you about any grade you relieved.

She has clear explanations in class and the way she organizes the class makes it very easy to develop a better understanding of the material if you are confused. Unfortunately, some of the ta's are terrible. Finally, the grading is really confusing because she does not release the rubric, so it is very hard to consistently do well on the homeworks

While she gives a lot of daily quizzes, they aren't worth much. The few tests are code-on-paper, which sucks, but her lectures are clear, if a bit slow-paced.

She is tough, but she's willing to help. Some TAs are helpful but some are not, so take your pick. Racket is useless but can help you learn programming logic. In fact, Racket is so limited that you will have an easier time if you don't have programming experience. There are sample exams and you can bring a cheat sheet so exams are not that bad.

Super easy class especially if you have programming experience. Just do the work she assigns and you could easily pass without paying much attention in class. Be prepared for daily quizzes.

Fantastic! I learned a lot even though I am not a huge fan of Racket. Everything that we did had some kind of purpose. Her tests were very fair. I only consulted the online textbook a few times, but I liked her notes more.

There were many aspects of the class that I really enjoyed but with the way the class is run, it is important that you keep on top of the material. With a good deal of preparation it should not be difficult to succeed. The daily quizzes can get annoying but they do not affect your grade much if you have a few slip-ups.

Hamel made my transition into Computer Science much easier. She gives daily quizzes but drops the 3 lowest grades. The homework and exams were fair, and she gives extra credit for working with a HW partner. Her lectures were clear and they went by really fast. You may never use Racket again but it was a good language for beginners. Solid class.

Her tests are completely based on homework and lectures. She shows how to do problems in lecture and has quizzes every lecture. Homework and tests are really relevant so homework is really helpful.

If you do all the homework and pay attention to class you should be able to ace this course. I did all the homework and it made her tests seem really easy.

First thing first, she is really nice and helpful if you would like to meet her in her office hour. She would explicitly explain everything you ask with great patience, and would like to hear and accept your arguments on homework and even tests, definitely helping you improve your grade. So this class is all about No pain and no gain, simple

Not as bad as people say, but not great. Encourages good OO programming practices so you will not get an A for correct code if it's not sensible. Homework is time-consuming and autograders are annoying but the assignments are good. Lectures kind of boring; you learn more from reading online. But she really isn't that bad and you'll learn Java.

If you have prior programming experience don't assume that you'll breeze through this course. 'Racket' is an understandable but difficult language. Many students have a problem with the language and subsequently the professor, which is why she's underrated. Professor Hamel is accessible and helpful, I have no problem with her teaching.

Quizzes every class, usually on the material from the previous class. Make sure you show up at least for the beginning of class. However it's usually good to stay as what she teaches will likely be on the next quiz. 3 Exams, not too bad especially if you use the sample exams. Use the grading rubric before submitting HW. She also posts class code.

Professor Hamel is a great professor, but CS1101 is a tough class. Her lectures are helpful and she does her best to clear up any confusion. The material isn't too hard to understand, but homework and tests are graded very harshly. Start the homework before the day it's due.

Personally I found the lectures really clear and helpful. There was a plan for every class and no sidetracking or rambling. I found her very approachable and she responded pretty quickly when I would post a question on the forum.

Took Cs1101 with her. Most of the lectures are online so you are not required to go to class except on quiz days (depends on whether you take the class in A or C term. If you take in A term, quizzes are everyday but for C term its only Thursday). Her tests are relatively easy. She also gives bonus points if you work with a partner

Hamel gets a bad rap. She teaches the intro CS class to kids that already know how to code so they have a hard time adjusting to Racket which is a really weird language. But I was someone who had very little experience and thought it was easy. If you humble yourself, ask for help, and put in some work you should get an easy A.