good teacher. only problem is the class is impossible if you dont already know java. homeworks are rediculously hard if you have had no prior experience. i would go into the TA office hours 4 days in a row for 2-3 hours each time.

good teacher. lots of people complain about the class being hard, but guess what, thats programming. try brining that to comsci227 and u will get no help and harder programs. Just be thankful he helps as much as he does and tries to make realistic hw.

He is a good teacher but kind of skops over some stuff. His TA's are the worse at grading. Everything I had graded in that class had to be regraded because of the dumb TA's. He is a good guy but kinda afraid of one on one discussions.

Class is way to difficult if you have never had any programming language before!

I didn't think this class was as hard as others and I don't have any programming experience. I felt he could've explained a few things better but overall I think he was pretty good.

I took cs 104 with him in fall 03 and it was pretty good

He was good in 104 but I didn't like his style of teaching. It was clear, but he didn't help much. It was like reading off a peice of paper. There wasn't much interaction.

James is outstanding. His industry, team-driven, programming is an invaluable asset now that he is teaching here at ISU. His integrity defending academic cheating is exemplary.

His class can be pretty challenging at sometimes depending on how much programming experience you've had before the class. He understands his material, but sometimes has trouble explaining it so everyone can understand. Don't expect an A unless you are going to put forth a lot of effort.

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Class is challangeing, but he's the MOST HELPFUL PROGRAMMING TEACHER EVER. He doesnt dress professionaly though he'll be a teacher you'll remember for the rest of your life. If you get to knwo him he's not as bad as everyone thinks...

Very knowledgeable in the field of programming and the Java language. He does sometimes seem like he doesn't care about the class and individual students. The TA's he chooses are very helpful when he is not. Kind of cocky sometimes in discussion board posts, but through all that, good teacher

Jim is not easy by any means, especially in a major-prep class like 227. However, if you're serious about learning programming his 227 class will help you learn the basics of programming. He has high expectations for his students, and those who meet them will learn a lot. As for the rest...

Jim is just a good teacher, good at explaining things and very helpful. He really wants people to learn and understand what he's teaching. He's one of the few gems within the horrendous comp sci department.

Jim is very knowledgeable in his field. He's laid back in class but quite strict on testing. However, he really helps his students excel in Java programming...great teacher!

Jim is by far my favorite teacher at ISU. He knows what he's doing, and when he's not sure he finds out. He has high expectations for his students and his class is a lot of fun. Favorite Memory from class : He threw an eraser at least 35 feet from a chalkboard and made such a noise that no one in the class spoke a peep (because people cheated onHW)

he gets enfuriated by people who steal/copy code, but that's understandable. he's really interested in getting people to understand, but won't spoon feed you on how to write code and still expects you to do the real legwork. he's very good about getting grades back and having TA's be thorough in their comments on homework.

Jim is an awesome professor. If you get a chance to take a class from him you won't regret it. Expect to put a bit of work in. Sometimes the homework instructions are less than optimal, but never to the point that it's frustrating. Always willing to answer questions and help students understand what he means in his more long winded homeworks.

Great teacher. Clear, funny, energetic. He'll bend over backwards to help you out. You'll have to work and pay attention in class. DON'T CHEAT (he'll kick your ass).

Very helpful and concerned about his students success. I very much enjoyed the time I spent with Dr. Lathrop in class. Homeworks are very time consuming and the class was poorly organized, but this is more the fault of the department than Dr. Lathrop. Very reasonable and approachable and knows the material quite well.

Go to lecture and don't bother getting the textbook. All the syntax you need is online and he gives the rest in class. Recitation is optional, but it's helpful if you ever get stuck.

One (or more) of the 5 homeworks might be really long (but help you do better on tests). Great lecturer. He WILL ask you questions in class ("What's the next line of code that goes here... John Doe?") Slackers/stupid people should probably avoid him.

Loved this professor. Going into this class, I thought it would be boring because I already knew most of the material, but he made it fun. He gives hard projects but if you know how to do the work, they are manageable. I am excited to have him again next semester.

Hard projects and homework. He and his TA don't always realize the time involvement in those homeworks. If they say homework exercise will take 3 hours, it will probably take 6-10 hours. Fair tests and fair grader. Teaches the material and is honest when he doesn't know something. Just keep up with the projects and you'll do fine.

Very down-to-earth teaching style. Assignments are difficult, but ultimately useful. He taught material that was applicable to real-world situations. Grading is _very_ fair.

Took his CS229 in F06 after taking his CS228 Sum06. He covered the really important/practical topics about C/C++. The books for the course are usable during AND after the class. I'm always pleased with his classes.

Jim definitely knows his stuff. As such he expects a lot on homework and exams. His exams are usually quite difficult and conceptual, but overall fair. He wants his students to do well, but sometimes his ego seems to get in the way of this goal. Overall good prof, just don't expect sympathy from him. You learn a lot in his class.

Amazing Professor. Teaches with a chalkboard, and doesnt post notes or anything online, so you should go to class. The homework is usually a little crazy, but its in good fun. His exams are pretty tough, but he grades them fairly. Very passionate about teaching. I'd highly recommmend taking this course.

Jim is quite an interesting guy. He is a very effective teacher. The homework in class was extremely time consuming but it was graded very fairly. Make sure you attend lecture and try your best. He doesn't put up with slackers and really respects the people that try.

Jim is not too hard. Complaining that Algorithms is too hard is funny because Algorithms is the most important class as a CS/SoftE/CprE major. You owe it to yourself to work your butt off for your future career/interviews. Jim provides the tools and help to do this. He explains things well and is a great instructor. This class shouldn't be "easier"

Lathrop is a good professor - don't get me wrong, the class was not easy, but overall I though he did a good job. A large portion of your grade (70% +) will come from the midterm & final (so you need to know your stuff), but his homeworks and projects will prepare you well. Given algorithms is an important class, I feel he taught the class well.

This class REQUIRES that you know what you're doing. Skip class (regardless of professor) and you won't pass. Jim does an excellent job of providing TONS of examples in class, so it's best to go anyway. If you go to class and ask questions when you don't understand, you're always going to get a clear picture of the ideas presented.

Best CS Professor at the university.

Jim is a great professor and really cares about his students. He explains things clearly, and grades fairly, but he also has very high expectations and assignments and exams can be difficult.

Jim's a good guy. He cares about his students and wants them to do well. But expect no mercy in 311. Given it's the final "hard class" in the COMS/SE path, and that algorithms are important, he rightfully has high expectations. His grading leaves a lot to be desired, though. Little to no feedback is received on assignments.

In the context of 311, which is a notoriously difficult class: I enjoyed Jim a lot. Really knows his stuff for algorithms, pretty good sense of humor, good pace and content for his lecture. I agree more feedback on homework would be nice. Overall, very good professor for 311, so long as you work hard.

Class was very hard, but the content was vital to my success as a programmer. The content is very interesting and he always was very clear in how he taught. Yes, it was hard, and yes it was a lot of work, but it is completely worth it. If you can take this class with Jim, do it. The content is hard no matter what, and you'll want Jim to teach it.

No tests, many projects. Jim expects and encourages learning techniques for completing assignments on your own, but will usually give you good advice and help if asked. Leaves more interesting gaming topics for student presentations. Good, clear lectures. Easy to talk to. Jim really enjoys the subject, which helps make class enjoyable.

Jim is a great professor. He has good lectures, gives a lot of examples, but the things your tested on you have to learn yourself. He does this on purpose, though. He will give teach of a concept in lecture, and you will probably not really understand it unless you put time into your homework projects. Do your projects on time, and you will do well

Here is what you are going to do in this class: make an 3D asteroid game in MonoGame, make a Reversi game in Unity 3D with given assets, make a game with group about Battleship Iowa (including lots of pitches and game design documents), make a presentation on some game related topics of your choice. Good class but learn everything by yourself.

Definitely a tough grader. 180/300 curved to a solid B on his first midterm. The class itself is hard, but Jim's a good professor.

Interesting to listen to in lecture. Takes hw assignment problems and test questions from the book (Skiena). If you look up the author of the book's website, there are additional lectures that are super helpful. Recitations are taught by impossible to listen to grad students who are a bit condescending.

Lot's of work, but the very lenient grader. Prof is there to help you succeed and learn what you want to learn from the class. Seems like 400 level classes are what he is meant to teach. Casual and flexible, but also knowledgeable and practical. If you're bad at speaking he'll point out what you can improve on but won't hold it against you.

The most refreshingly reasonable grader I've had in a while. The project structure of this class makes me actually look forward to the assignments.

Took the class in Fall 2019. Easily one of the most thorough and direct CS professors. His lectures involved implementing data structures in pseudocode on the blackboards. He does not spoon-feed the material, so you definitely need to make some effort to understand it. His HW projects were well written and very reasonable.

COM S 531 is one of the theoretically important courses and Professor Jim did a good job in teaching this difficult course.

The courses were very straight forward. at the start of the semester you receive rough deadlines of the few projects. Then all you do in class is work on the projects and learn how to use game engines. Very fun class

Lathrop is a good teacher and understands what he is talking about, and when he doesn't (niche cases), he takes the time to clarify himself before the next class. He relies on in-class participation and questions to make sure you understand part-by-part what he is writing. It will be up to you to keep up on soft assignment deadlines.

Not a difficult class if you go to lecture and do the homework. His exams are curved and fair. Only issue I had was the second project was horribly worded and hard to complete.