He's really not so bad. He even cracks tiny little jokes from time to time if you listen carefully enough to catch them.

Super cool prof! Very intelligent! Interesting lectures. Always helps when you need it. Project was kind of hard but again he helps a lot.

Great teacher. He is EXTREMELY helpful if you send him email questions. The course is tough, but if you work hard and attend class it is not too difficult to get a good mark. He's also got a great sense of humour.

Hes an eager prof who, in his words "gives you your moneys worth". As long as you make an attempt, you can't help but learn in his class

he provids extra help, although the teaching stuff is a bit difficult, they are helpful for other classes!!:)

Very nice and helpful professor, willing to give you help no matter in class or in lab. Replies fast even in emails.

He has an accent which makes it kinda hard to understand him, however, he is one of the rare teachers who actually KNOWS what he is explaining instead of referring to the "Answer book".

I have also taken his ccps305. Great Proffesor, knows what he is talking about, for those who thinks he is a bad prof should probably look in the mirror and see if the difficult is the fact that the dont want to learn, cause if you do he is not difficult at all. Just try, thats all you have to do.

Great teacher. Very fair. Knows the material. Tough course but hard work will see you through. The outline is very clear and there are no surprises.

if u listen to Illka u wont need to read a book.his notes are great(he prints them for u with examples)u just gotta listen to him.hasn't been a question that he didn't answer.no matter how stupid the question, he'd say that it's a good question(kept explaining till i understood)he sounds like arnold

Awesome prof! Loves his subject, teaches lots of interesting stuff. He actually made AI interesting. Extremely helpful, as long as you ask for help. Easy marker too.

I consider this guy a good prof. Very clear, friendly, good marker and deffinitly loves his field. He also looks like SS officer, makes you pay attention :)

By far the best prof I've had. If you listen, he'll make you understand why things are the way they are at a much deeper level than what you'd normaly take away from a first year course.

He tought CPS 125 with no preparation as the prof we were supposed to have had a clash couldn't do it. Despite having no notes or prior experience he tought us all the right stuff and I didn't even buy the textbook still got an A!! Very good prof clear and detailed and happy to answer all questions even if they are a bit off topic.

The best prof for comp sci. His accent is rather funny at first but he knows his stuff extremely well. He teaches exactly what you need to know and his lectures are great. The TA's are also very helpful and know what they're doing.

Though he has a comical accent, he is an awesome professor. His lecturing methods are well advanced and he knows his material extremely well. Best prof I have had so far.

Even though he may sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger but infact his English is quite excellent. He's a nice guy and lenient marker, replies to your email quickly, always helpful in the labs. I think he didn't make the final this year as the material he taught before the midterm was asked instead of the stuff we learnt after it. Still he's cool, A++.

Once you can understand him past his accent (which is Finnish by the way, not Russian), he is a very good professor. Fair in his marking, true interest in the subject, and explains things clearly the first time. Does not rely on huge quantities of powerpoint slides so you don't fall asleep. Would take again. You need to know your stuff to pass.

Very intelligent...he can be difficult to students who don't grasp the material

My first impression of him was that I thought he was weird, b/c he hardly has any expression on his face...but I can't think of any other person who is more resourceful than him when it comes to programming.

Once you get used to the accent he is a great professor. Always answers questions without any crap! Very helpful

Very happuy with his instruction.

Very resourceful professor. As long as you listen there really isn't a need for the textbooks. Willing to take the time to help students. One of the best professor's I've had so far.

Amazing prof! Very passionate and knowledgeable about the subject. Always willing to help.

Awesome prof, listen and take notes and you won't have to go through the textbook. Will occasionally need to use wikipedia in order to get a better understanding of what he's trying to explain. Assignments/grading schemes are fair.

Knows his stuff, and tries to use real examples with difficult topics. treats everyone fair. not an easy marker but then the topic isn't easy either.

he know's his stuff.

Teaches latest material, clarify the topic to the point, down to earth personality.

Great instructor. Labs/Assignments are challenging.

He really knows the topics and organizes his lectures well to give maximum information. great class.

Not an easy class to take and comprehend. Professor is very succint but tend to assume that you grasp materials really quick so can be quite difficult and require many times re-reading to understand materials presented in class.

Very good teacher, easy to understand and goes through the material very well. I recommend you change your schedule to fit him in it because he is awesome, he makes the content humorous which helps a lot. BEST PROF EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Great professor, like others have said, he promptly responds to questions. The accent is interesting. I will never look a {} without thinking of his "currrly braces" ever again. That is now how they are pronounced in my head.

One of the best profs, by far. He's fair, and is very clear of what he is looking for when grading, and the timely feedback. I DISAGREE with a lot of the comments here saying he shouldn't teach intro courses. Go to class, pay attention to what he's saying, read through his notes handouts, you will develop a solid Comp Sci knowledge to build upon

Great prof! His lectures were very clear, and he was always helpful if I ever needed assistance. If you put in the work, you will succeed in this class. Everything is clearly laid out for you. I think some of the negative comments come from those who were not willing to put in the time to learn the material. CS is never going to be a bird course.

Best prof i've ever had in my life , however his accent was not clear for me at first but i got used to it.

Ilka has a very strong accent, so at first it's very hard to understand him. HOWEVER, it takes like 2-3 lectures to completely get used to it. And when you're able to understand him, HE IS ACTUALLY AMAZING. I love that guy. He really KNOWS his stuff and gives LOTS of different hints, additional info and sources. Also, I like his sense of humor.

Honestly, the best prof I could have asked for. Accents don't bother me, but his assignments were hard, but fair. With his class, I got a great sense of accomplishment out of completing his assignments. This class, both the material and the prof was what made me believe in my choice of post secondary program was the correct one

Probably one of my most favourite profs at Ryerson. Is very intelligent and provides a very clear understanding of all the topics he teaches. His midterm and final was very clearly defined and you knew what you were going to have to know. The project was very enganging and you learned a lot. Would take his class everytime.

Once you get past his accent and annunciation, he is a great professor who explains concepts clearly, has excellent material and excellent grading scheme.

Ilkka is a wonderful professor who knows the subject of Computer Science inside and out. He knows how to pace his lectures so everything makes sense if you simply attend and pay attention. I found his lectures inspiring, making me want learn and apply the theory in my spare time. As soon as this class was finished I signed up for the follow-up.

Great prof. He was 'different,' just like all the computer science professors out there. Extremely knowledgeable. Some may think that he doesn't have much of a personality but if you look at content of the examples he uses in class, you see his personality. If you want to learn to program, take his course!

A REAL GEM

His lectures are all you need to get a great understanding of programming in Java. He really wants you to have a thorough knowledge of the topics he covers and you don't even need to go to the textbook if you understand what he says. Definetley going to take his classes in the future.

Loved him from the first lecture ��

Ilkka Kokkarinen is great one of the best, i defiantly learned a great deal from his lectures. Another unique trait about his teaching methods is; for every assignment he provides a tester program to test your work.

He really is a phenomenal prof. Skim through the notes before going to class.

I had a lot of trouble with his accent. One lecture, I thought he was talking about a "Rule" by the end, I learned he was actually saying "Raw". Wow.. Other than that, he's fair. Tries to throw in jokes from time to time. And they're good jokes. But delivery is soooo dry.

I had trouble with his accent. But enjoyed the course. Possibly because I had some programming knowledge that made the coarse very easy for me.

His accent is bit hard to follow and he is monotone, but very enthusiastic about computer science. His lectures are insightful and theory heavy.

I have a soft spot in my heart for this prof. Has an accent (easy for me) and Finnish humour is strange but he is very caring and clear. His projects and exams are very fair too. He is also very funny. Very reachable by email and if you talk to him honestly about trouble in class/projects he will help you. Projects are medium to hard of a challeng

he is truly a caring guy. He has wealth of knowledge and is willing to help you understand the concepts. if you coding isn't for you this course is gonna be hard for you as at times you will find yourself reading a lot of slides with though terminology but he is always accessible

The course is designed to get you typing code quickly. The problem sets are a mix of challenging, fun and hair pulling madness. He is supportive and very responsive when approached with clear questioning with regards to the problem set at hand. I started as a complete beginner and full of doubt but after finishing the course I feel more confident.

the nicest prof i have ever had!! he posts all important course information (notes, outline, etc) online. took this class for a minor, and had an exam conflict and he let me move the exam to january! he also put my mark as INC instead of a C so my gpa wouldn't drop (since i was applying to co-op).really intelligent and wants his students to succeed

Great prof, he is very laid back and lets you learn on your own! He does 4hr lectures but you don't have to attend since they are recorded. The labs are worth (60%) of your mark-very easy to do, and the final exam (40%) is simple as well! Just be resourceful! He also includes funny jokes in his class

Really good prof. responds to emails very quickly and has a massive amount of knowledge in comp sci. and math. Labs are quite challenging however, taught me lots!

Excellent teacher. Very fair and knows his stuff and has great lab problems.

Appreciate all the lectures with Ilkka Kokkarinen. I learn a ton and he's always right on point no fuss

I prof is special and a true educator. He has so much experience when it comes to Software Engineering history and he's so funny about it. I am so sad his class was on a Friday, so I often had to missed it for other commitments but luckily he posts so many resources online including previous recordings of lectures. Learned a lot making the project.

Overall I did learn a lot doing the group project in this course. Areas for improvement: The lectures did not seem to have much to do with the group project, and we learnt about software design/architectural patterns too late in the course so we couldn't apply them to our group project as it was already too far into development.

Professor has a heavy accent, but explains concepts clearly. Assignments can be challenging, but rewarding. unstuckstudy helped with exam prep. Overall, a great learning experience.

He's tries to teach you the material despite the material being difficult, doesn't take forever to respond to your emails, and isn't there to fail you.