Teaches as if you already know all the material. useless in office hours; always asks "What do you think?". Directions are extremely vague. Lectures are purposfully designed to have pitfalls and errors (he expects students to find errors) which makes note taking impossible. Tests don't cover the covered material. He may be a better upper div prof.

Do not put yourself through this. If you have a class with him already, drop it. You wont regret it.

we should learn C++ in 40, but this teacher made us learn Rust, a new language. The textbook is clear,understandable, but he always discussed things far beyond the textbook in class, hard to follow. Homeworks are much much harder than the examples in the textbook and what he taught in class. Really a horrible class. Definitely don't choose him!!!

Has a distinct lack of communicating when things are due and expects you to check the discussion thread for absolutely everything. Does not send out important notifications.

This professor does not put in any effort to fully answer his students' questions in class.

Chen taught ECS 40 in Rust, which is a new language with almost no documentation aside from the developer's book. His lectures were much harder than they needed to be, and he would ridicule people that asked basic questions. He is very tough, discouraging, and rude. Definitely do not recommend - I'll be sure to never take his classes again.

Course description says we would be learning using C++, instead we used RUST. A very difficult and confusing language. This class did not prepare me for ECS60 at all, which will be taught in C++. This professor is very rude and does not care about his students. He does not give practice midterms or exams. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only a bad lecturer, but also just a rude person. Ridicules people for asking questions and constantly telling the class how easy everything is and how they have no excuse to not get 100% on every exam. 50% of the final had components where if you don't answer you get some points, but if you answer and get ANYTHING wrong you'd get no points.

ECS40 w/Hao Chen and Rust of Fall 2016. You either loved it or hated it. Taking 40 with Rust instead of the usual C++ can really screw you over. You actually have to read the textbook because there are no Rust source codes/outside references to help you since it's a new language. For me I was eternally lost and the class did not prepare me for 60

He doesn't like answering students' questions during lectures, he taught RUST instead of C++, his teaching style is peculiar. He writes incorrect codes in the board, explains them briefly, and erases them quickly. Doesn't give good code examples during lecture, and this class certainly didn't prepare me for ECS060 with Sean Davis. Avoid if possible

Currently taking ECS40 with Hao Chen. Dude just hates on C++ and compares it to Rust every class. The lecture consists of him getting mad for sure if you're copying the notes because its already available in his terrible book. Rust has minimal resources on the web and you're better off waiting to take a C++ course.

The class itself is easy if you are able to absorb the information from the textbook. The only problem is that the professor is the condescending type that doesn't really teach well, so you have to learn yourself. Lectures are a waste of time. He says don't use windows, but you can (VSC). Discussions are kind of helpful and rust is alright.

For a class about OOP, Chen talks so much about the compiler of Rust and talks very little/none at all about OOP. Whenever you ask a question about anything, he'll just refer you to his horrible textbook or he'll get upset at you for not being a "perfect programmer" (Chen's words, not mine.) Get a study group, read, go to discussions. Try to avoid.

If you have a life outside the field of computer science, drop his course at once. He gives so many reading assignments and at the same time, barely teaches. Not very kind to students either, keeps on trying to ridicule people who post something he doesn't like. He worships Rust for some reason (not even in the syllabus) and hates on C++/Java.

This professor is horrible, find any way to get around the ECS 036A requirement if he is your only option. He has broken the rules of the course by teaching Python as well as his beloved Rust (only one language is to be taught.) The homework is on another level. He doesn't even curve and as a result, a lot of people get Ds and even Fs. Sack him!

Will somehow manipulate material to teach Rust. Course isn't difficult but he makes it as difficult as it could possibly be. Homework is a nightmare to figure out what to do because instructions are incomplete/wrong. Lectures will not help with homework, that's what Piazza is for. Jokes exist but fall so flat that it's actually funny in hindsight.

Literally all his lectures are all filled by random stuffs kinda related to computer science but so not connected with the reading. His tests are, actually mysteriously, somehow centered around all his lectures. And he never teaches you anything about how to do the homework so get ready to get extra help or figure it out on your own.

The class was supposed to be only taught in python, but he made us learn all of it in half the quarter so he can spend the other half teaching Rust. Only taught the theory of Python/Rust, never actually how to program. Had to teach myself Python to do the homeworks which were all hard. Tests are heavily lecture based. Take notes!!! Avoid if you can

Class was supposed to be an introductory course, but he assumed that all students had prior experience. Didn't actually teach how to code, only discussed theory. Manipulated the class to teach Rust so we had to learn all of Python in the first half. Homework has nothing to do with what is taught in class and is extremely difficult and unclear.

Crams all the Python lectures into half the quarter so that he can spend the rest of it teaching his beloved RUST. He teaches so little and gives a lot of hard homework which doesn't help in real life. You will have to teach yourself the contents of the course. All he will teach you is Rust. On the test, the tiniest mistakes cost you a lot. AVOID!!

Teaches things that are lot harder than the placement test designed by the college. Rushes through what is important to teach something which isn't important, which he only teaches cause he loves it. Homework is not at all based on lectures but covers a significant part of the grade. Not a very good professor.

No good. Hard programs and difficult exams. AVOID!!!!!

Horrible professor!!! Course only required some experience of programming whereas the way Chen teaches requires you know everything about python. Only spends half a quarter on python so he can teach beloved rust, and roasts C++, Java, and Python, calling them horrible languages! He claims exams are easy but the tiniest mistakes will cost you dearly

Unless you actually know python really well, skip this class He requires you to know python very well. And he starts teaching a different language after the midterm. Have fun!

Terrible professor. Doesnt teach very well. Avoid him at all costs!! He makes the class very difficult, so if you have a life outside of CS, drop his class at once.

Spent the entire class learning and coding in python and then decided that the final should be in rust for no good reason.

Hao Chen is not a good professor. His lectures are bad but his grading scheme worse. He uses his own website instead of canvas. He indicates a number of points a homework is worth on the website. But for your actual grade, he implements a huge hidden weight behind the homeworks. He made one of the homeworks worth more than all the others combined.

Took it as ECS 36A in Fall '18. One of the worst professors you'll ever come across. I took my first CS course with him and he completely smashed my basics. Regret taking my first CS class with him. Avoid him if you starting your CS career at uni.

He's terrible. Makes everything much more complicated than it is. FAILED at teaching us Python (uni requirement), and taught Rust half the time. Often referred us to his HORRIBLE textbook for any questions. 4 hard HWs, not relevant to what he taught in lectures. Exams based only on lectures, so take notes and you'll do fine. AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS!

He's terrible and mean. Never be patient to answer questions during OH. You would have no chance to know your actual grade on final and the grading policy is decided by the Chen at the end of the quater, which means he could manipulate the grades to favor the students he like. Avoid him for all courses.

Bad bad bad!!!! Baddest of the bad

She makes students do a lot of work for their grades. Has specific points for "good" work for every hw and midterm meaning if it's aesthetically pleasing to her and her only she will give credit. Didn't like that at all.

If you do not have prior experience with programming, you are going to have a difficult time in this class. As an introductory course, it was not beginner friendly. One weekly lecture, three hours long. You mostly teach yourself in this class, discussions with TAs are more helpful than lectures.

Avoid it you don't want to end up hating CS. Very impractical homeworks.

Expectations are too high for students who don't even major in CS

To be honest, the worst professor I have ever had in my life. This class is a very unorganized class and the professor did not show much care about his student's learning. A 3-hour lecture a week that teaches literally nothing! Avoid at any cost!

If you don't have like good solid coding background then take my advice don't take this class. By good solid background, I mean like 4-6 months of coding experience. The homework gets extremely hard every week. Wait till week 3 and week 4 is worse. You need to heavily rely on google.

no ill will towards him as a person, but its the principle of having class on a uni recognized holiday (thxgiving), inconsistent announcements, inaccessibility to TAs, poor lecturing, refusal to cover basics in a basics class,poor hw instructions, poor procedural instructions to receive a hw grade, and the 3hr lecs Fri/night, for me. thx but no thx

The lectures are horrible and don't teach you what is needed for the homework. The book is confusing and hard to understand passed chapter 3. You cannot email him, he has no office hours. He uses an autograder and tests for unknown cases in your code. Discussion is 10% yet we're not told how to get points. A very tough class. Avoid if possible!

RUN THE OTHER WAY. Just go for your own sanity. You will be up all night and still not do well. Not worth it at all!! I still don't know anything. Might have been bc COVID. But this was not a good class.

Worst professor in UC Davis by a country mile. He is really rude to students, has very hard assignments, teaches RUST instead of normal programming, and is just an overall bad professor. You get into the class by solving 1+1 and now you are doing advanced level computer security.

No office hour, No care for his students. 3 hr lecture on Friday every week (even on Thanksgiving day). Avoid at all cost and good luck if u take this course.

Only four assignment for this class throughout the quarter, but don't get me wrong, that four assignment was time-consuming and meant a lot for grades. In the end, ur score will be determined by four assignment and discussion participation which has no clear grading criteria. Lectures were three hours straight per week. Avoid if u have a choice!

He is one of the worst professors in the entire CS department. Even the department does not like him.

His class is not relevant to his homework and his homework is too difficult.

Class is disorganized. Assignments are not very clear.

He always changes the class time!!! Even on Thanksgiving day, he still has class!! The lecture is 3hrs long and when students have a problem, he just says "Google is your best friend!" Homework is difficult! even though you got the full point when you submit it, you still may lose points when he does the "official test".

This professor makes CS your living nightmare. The class is not at all for beginner's. His lectures are 3 hours every week which is exhausting. He didn't offer much help either. Prior to the course ending, he ended all communication with students and would not respond to emails. Do not take his class even if it's the only one open, just avoid him.

This professor clearly doesn't care about his students and his lectures aren't all that helpful. It isn't worth taking this course with him because he will make you hate CS. He doesn't provide much help in his office hours either and refuses to give any assistance on the homework. There are also no extensions for any homework. Avoid this class!

This sums up the class: "Professor, do we get practice papers?" - "How will that help you? Do you think Google gives practice papers to their employees" If you ask him for help he replies with Google. His test has 0 coding in it. He refuses the record the lecture no matter what. If you get sick and can't go to class then tough luck. RUN AWAY!!!!

dont take him

Doesn't record lectures. Always compares students to google employees. We didn't get back anything for the final, not even the grade. He just sends our grade to the registrar without giving us our score and said on canvas the class is over and there's nothing to be done. WORST PROFESSOR EVER.

Just don't take him.

Get this guy out of here

run while you can

so bad.

Worst computer science teacher I've ever had. His lectures were accessible, but the homework and exams were ridiculously difficult. His attitude in class is very arrogant and disrespectful, and he often compares students to Google employees. The auto grader he uses never provides results for test cases. Avoid!

Lecture and HW have no relation. No record and practice, if you ask it, he will ask why you need it and make you feel you are the worst student. horrible professor. homework is stressful, exams are weird, and lecture is boring. Only some geniuses of CS will converse with him, but obviously, they are geniuses. regular students listen to me, run...

He doesn't record lectures. Homework is pretty fun but takes 20+ hours to do. We have to write our own test cases because the autograder will not tell you what you got wrong which I don't mind. If TAs tell you to state your assumptions on exams, do not state your assumptions because they will not read them.

Every time a student asks a question, he responds with one of the following: "can someone else answer?", "why is that important?", or "if you were a Google employee, you wouldn't [...]". His lectures are counterproductive and his midterm had many ambiguities. He won't shut up about Rust and will take any opportunity to jerk off Rust.

STAY AWAY!!!!! SAVE YOURSELF!!!!! get this guy out of the university please mr gary may

Don't take this professor under any circumstance. It's simply not worth it. I thought He couldn't be THAT bad. I was wrong.

Homework assignments are busywork with little to no relation to what we are learning in class at all. If you are interested in computer security principles, you will only get theory and not application from this guy. The group project is probably the only place where you can actually study and experiment with security vulnerabilities.

Homeworks were only tangentially related to computer security, and were busy work. Unorganized class with poorly written exams with lots of ambiguous questions.

HW has nothing to do with the class and is entirely busywork. Exams are multiple choice and you are allowed to bring the entire textbook (written by Berkeley) so long as it is physical. The averages for exams were extremely poor. Practicing using Berkeley's old exams isn't recommended, you will still do poorly even if you ace their practice exams.

Was extremely rude and condescending. Put barely any effort into the course even though this is his specialty. Homework assignments did not cover any security topics. He didn't show up to midterm, final, or final presentations. Turned half the class into zoom meets after week 2. Not a good professor in all categories. Never take.

Oh brother this guys stinks.Hao Chen is really smart. But its a big NO to his class structure. 2 10% midterms in back-back weeks at the start of the quarter. Going into the final with half the topics untested. Hw is fine - pretty standard. He wants you to participate, but is very passive aggressive. Also yaps about Palo Alto and rust ALL THE TIME.

By far the worst CS professor in Davis, even making M. Franklin look like a saint. He is impeccably rude, obnoxious, and obstinate in every way. If you are sick during a midterm, or final, regardless if you have a doctor's note, you are forced to drop the class. He gives no leniency whatsoever no matter the circumstance you are under. Don't take HC

Worst, worst, worst ever. Lecture material also never in the exams. I cannot imagine what the poor TAs needed to deal with. Oh yeah like other said, you are forced to hear coughing all the days during the exams because he gave no dam about you. Guess why? He never presented during the exams, so he never needed to deal with the sick germs!

If you like pain and suffering you should take this class. Just think to yourself "Do I love misery?" if the answer is yes, Hao Chen is the right fit for you.

If you have 0 regards for your mental sanity and GPA this class is perfect you. Prof. Chen is the worst professor I've had by far. Class grading is absurd, with two 10% midterms given in back to back weeks, and final worth 40%. No study guides for these exams. Homework was not terrible, but can be very frustrating. TA's were helpful at times.

This professor's ego is huge. He does not have any exam practice and the tests are based on lecture word for word. While tests are open note, his exams can test on any random fact he has brought up during lectures. Also on his exams, there are questions where the material WAS NOT COVERED. I cannot believe this is a professor at a UC.

It is hard to trace his mind.

Horrible. Avoid him at all costs.

Prof completely checked out of education; TAs did 90% of the actual work if only they could also teach. Open Note/Book exams yet average worse than some physics classes. Homework was a joke and would be considered an in-class example by most other prof. Teacher ECS 36C 60% of the time, so u have no choice but to suffer.

40% HW, 20% for 2 midterm exams, 40% for final exam. The midterms were given in back to back weeks. Unlimited cheat sheets on exams. Useless lectures, went on rants about Rust and the goal of getting a SWE job to live in Palo Alto. Homework was graded by autograder with hidden test cases. TA's usually told us where we are missing points on hw.

Learned nothing from his class.

Homework was pretty easy. Exams on the other hand... he would quiz you on things not even covered in lecture, and he'd say it's because lecture is "complementary" to your self-studying that you were expected to do. Well, I learned nothing in this class. 10% curve because averages were around 50%. Midterm 2 was literally 1 week after midterm 1.

Class moved to zoom after a few weeks, lectures didn't mean much for exams, mostly everyone's grades tanked from final being worth a lot more than midterms which were only a week apart in October weirdly, TA's carried the class and homework was pretty manageable.

I won't say he is the worst but it was still bad. He's pretty rude and won't stop talking about Rust or silicon valley. No notes or recordings so you have to show up. Homeworks were just implementing pseudocode from the textbook. Exams were fine but he included topics we barely or didn't cover yet, take advantage that you get unlimited cheat sheets

Bad judgement