2.6
Quality3.9
Difficulty35%
Would Retake126
Reviews35%
Would Retake
126
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
126 total ratings5
26
4
19
3
17
2
17
1
47
What Students Say
“Mostly because Lillis A: does not grade projects quickly”
CS251 - 1.0 rating“His lectures are super informative and he loves it”
CS251 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
20%
Textbook Required
26%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.53 avg changeRatings by Course
CS202
3.9
(7)CS141
3.6
(12)CS251
3.1
(36)CS201
3.0
(10)CS301
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
EECS260
5.0
CIS107
5.0
CSCS
5.0
CS401
5.0
CS107
4.8
Reviews (125)
He is a good geek, but a bad prof
No Comments
best in cs department
Pretty good professor compared to ALOT of the teachers in the CS dept. His homework tends to be very hard, but you learn alot if you manage to do it. Fair grader. Might speak too fast at times.
Goes a bit to fast, and gives a lot of work at a time. But overall, very fair grader and exams are straight forward.
very helpful with any questions. homeworks were intense and the summer session only made things worse, but you really do learn a lot and I am so happy I had Dr. Lillis. I felt I learned so much!
Extremely difficult class. His quizzes and exams are almost impossible. He is very mathematic. Also the projects take a lot of work, you will be spending many nights working on them.
He tries his best all the time. The only problem is that his assignment are too difficult, even the homework. He grades the tests so you get partial credit for doing the right concept even if your answer is wrong. The homeworks and programs are graded by the TA so no partitial credit. You need the exact answer or you will get 0%. Grading is harsh
VERY Math oriented, but is great job at explaining things, like induction. He cares about his students and is totally different outside the classroom. His grading is fair, but the TAs are very harsh, though he grades the exams. Prepare to fail every HW because of this, but don't get discouraged, meet with him and review it, it helps. Thanks Prof!
Prof Lillis is very professional. His lectures are crystal clear. Programming assignments aren't too hard. However here is the catch: He loves combinatorics, so expect a lot of material on math, statistics, probability, and induction. He is a good grader, but his TA is horrible. Expect to fail all your homeworks and programs. Get a new TA!!!!!
Not the best teacher. Very vague, but tries to get students to think for themselves.
The first programming project was a Class imitating CNF form. It was worth 135 points. The Avg was 25, the Median was 16!!!! Out of 90 students!!! It was extremely hard, but he curves so I'm happy.Also, Lillis offered extensions on the project, which I am thankful for. But damn, make projects easier. This ain't MIT!
Is this class hard? yes. Is this class fun? sort of not. Do you learn things you have never learned before in cs? YES. I did not manage to get out of this course very well grade wise, but I did learn somethings I will probably carry over into my career, very few professors go into the math of CS, but Lillis makes sure we do and remember it always
His lectures aren't about any of the projects he assigns. Also he doesn't want to teach CS 201, as he stated the first day of class. So he takes it out on the students. Very unprofessional.
He preasches his research as fact. You get the feeling that the whole class is him rambling about what he finds interesting, but it all has nothing to do with the course work. It is ridiculous. His projects are impossible (150pt project, 34pt avg, 10pt median). Can't avoid him if you are a CS major at UIC, though.
Terrible lectures. Very useless and the material he covers in the lectures have almost no correlation to the work that is assigned. I promise you that everything he teaches in lecture are useless in the CS field. He's a smart researcher, but no professor.
Terrible professor. his lectures are pointless. Very useless and the material he covers in the lectures have almost no correlation to the work that is assigned. he has an attitude problem, it makes you scared to ask a Q. everything he teaches in lecture are useless in the CS field. i waste so much time doing his HW, it affect my grade in other clas
bad experience
worse teacher at uic, i am an straight A student his lectures were very pointless he jumps from one program to another, person wise very nice but his way of teaching was horrible had to teach myself!!!
VERY BAD EXPERIENCE. Worst professor ever.
Helpless teacher ever. I made a biggest mistake in my life by taking his class OR UIC has made biggest mistake keeping him as professor.He doesn't have any understanding of teaching method and student grasping and performance level. He behaves as we are PhD nerds. He takes off unnecessary grades, and homework is impossible.
Horrible and useless. The homework and labs are not intro level. Expects students to understand his lectures and concepts quickly. Lectures are confusing because he just does his coding rather than explain how to do it. Also he jumps around a lot so its hard to keep track of what he is actually doing. Must pass final exam to pass the class!!
He knows his stuff but he doesn't know how to teach it to students. Homework is very hard and time consuming later in the semester. Doesn't seem like an intro level class for people with no CS background. Gives a quiz about every other week. NOT Recommend...His lectures aren't that helpful either.
this professor is the worst professor at uic. I would not recommend this professor at all. if you are new to cs and even you have prior knowledge of C or C++. This professor makes sure you forget what you learned and cs 107 is just intro class not cs201. Fire this guy from uic
This professor is excellent. He brings his best to the table every class and if you truly listen to his lectures, have a good attitude, and love the subject you will learn a great deal. Programming projects are difficult but doable. Homework is difficult but you will learn a lot. One of the best teachers I have ever had.
Truly, Lillis is one of the great professors at UIC. He teaches well. Can explain the same concept from many angles. When students ask questions, he's great at identifying the source of confusion and tailoring the answers in ways that are helpful and insightful. He is also very helpful, I highly recommend spending some time in his office.
Walked into class and he had NO idea where he was. He had to ask which class it was.
Not an easy professor. Have to spend a lot of time on hw which is 35%, the TAs grade with their test cases (good/bad) if your code gets the right answer you get an A, if it doesnt work perfectly you get an F. Very bad structure, the TAs dont even read your code so make sure it works for all test cases. he ends up curving at the end bc most ppl drop
Excellent teacher. Explains the subject well and is reasonable. Workload is low. Discussion/Lab days are very helpful. The handouts really drive the concepts home. TA wasn't helpful though.
I attended maybe the first two weeks of lecture and realized he sucked. Failed the first two exams really badly, and had a friend teach me 15 weeks worth of material the night before the final and I aced it and ended up with a C. If you study on your own, the class will be easy. I didn't find benefit from the lectures or TA's.
His lectures are pretty pointless. He explains concepts really vaguely and makes things confusing. You're better off reading the book he gives you than going to his lectures.
Doesnt explain anything. I got to lab confused on what we need to do because he hasnt taught us. just does things and mumbles. Horrible
This guy is the WORST professor at UIC if not the WORST on earth. If you have someone to write your program assignments, you pass otherwise you FAIL.
By far the worst professor I've ever had. His lectures were hardly ever on topic and ALWAYS went over class end time. Assignments are not impossible but confusing. Another thing, I got a concussion while I was taking this course and when I told him I was having trouble remembering things, he told me that he didn't believe me and to pay attention...
Awesome professor, lectures helped quite a bit. Wish he would cover more about what would actually be on the homework though. Assignments were unreasonably difficult at times.
Well I don't really want to bash on Prof. Lillis but I think he honestly expects to much of his students. Some of the projects he assigned seemed really unreasonable especially when half the class didn't have a clue on how to even start on them. One suggestion for anyone taking the class is to just read up on data structures and run times.
An already boring class made tougher by a bland professor. Strongly advise against taking his class. Does not help at all.
Professor Lillis is very knowledgeable and very helpful. Sometimes TOO helpful. He easily gets sidetracked by students' questions, and wastes lecture time rambling on a topic that doesn't directly apply to the class. Homework assignments sometimes had vague or incorrect instructions. He's a fair grader and a nice guy, just not a very good teacher.
Best Computer Science teacher I've had so far at UIC. His homework/projects are the perfect amount of difficulty. Approach him for help and you shall receive it! I'm very confused about his poor reviews...
It's true, his explanations are not always clear, but if you take a look at wiki or textbook, you'll get what he meant. Projects are somewhat challenging, so you can't start last moment, but they are all certainly doable for the level taught. Not the best professor, but certainly not the worst. People complaining probably didn't put enough effort.
At first, i thought Lillis wasn't that great. However having multiple semesters with him, I got used to his style and he's actually great. The way he grades is fair. Also he has an exam replacement policy, which is really nice. He's there to help you get a better grade. His assignments are not useless. They are direct.
While he can be a tad bit disorganized and goes off topic during lecture, Prof. Lillis is actually pretty good at explaining the beginning concepts of computer science. Most of the grade comes from the homework assignments, which are programs to be made in C. Start the programs early, as they can be challenging and you will run into problems.
Great Teacher!
He forgets this is a CS course and not an English course.
Class is pretty easy if you follow along. All lectures are recorded.
Lillis is helpful for the most part,the grading system for homework seems to have improved, and he can make some parts of his lectures entertaining and interesting but the class is definitely more difficult and time consuming than an introductory cs class should be.
I had never coded in C before, so that was an adjustment. Overall, the concepts were pretty easy. Some of the assignments were quire challenging. Start them early, and you should succeed.
He is horrible!! AVOID!!
His class was difficult, but it taught some of the things that helped me land my job after graduation (I'm a software developer now). You have to put in lots of time to do well, but he curves so it's not that bad. Just don't expect to be able to slack off and do well. His teaching style is also pretty good preparation for an algorithms class.
taken his class be4, thought he wsnt bad. Friend warnd me about him n tht he doesnt reply piazza much(TRUE) n droppd class. I realizd hes way 2 unorganizd, unprepard, n confusing. His long prog. assignmnt docs r long n a mess tht I nevr want 2 read it. Excluding exams, 7 out 10 submitted assignmnts were not updatd on bb (he does upload grades)
still pushes out lengthy hws that would take time to grade when 70% of assignments are not graded and super unorganized and unprepared hw docs
Had him before, everyone below saying he's unorganized and never updates grades is 100% correct. He only graded three assignments out of ten by week 14, lol. His teaching works for some, but they are a minority. His main problem is wasting half the class drawing useless diagrams instead of actually coding and showing how the concepts work.
He is a great professor!
horrible. gives us exam and homework week before finals. never answers piazza. so dry and boring in class. never take him.
Really knows the material. Lectures can sometimes be boring, but he spends a lot of time explaining the concepts from the bottom up. Lectures are recorded. Understanding the lectures is essential to passing the class. Reading the text book does help. If you're struggling go to office hours, the prof is helpful esp. if he sees that you're trying.
Knowledgeable, yet demanding. Sincere, yet overexpecting. Explains, yet few understand him. Harder than most...
very knowledgeable about the subject. but not very good at explaining his knowledge. he wants you to think for yourself which is understandable but extremely difficult when there is no text book for the class just a PDF from an MIT and Stanford coarse. taking his CS 151 class makes want to change majors or drop out. avoid him at all costs.
Lillis is nice and tries to make the class enjoyable. However, his balance of content to examples is off and a lot of stuff done in class isn't relevant for homework or tests. BTW- homeworks make up most of the points, and it's really easy to do poorly. GO TO HIS OFFICE HOURS-- he's great with clarifying and nudging you to the right path.
Professor Lillis is approachable. That said, his lectures are a bit dry. So ask questions when things don't make sense. He's happy to answer them. Homework assignments are much harder than exams, however, homework is graded pretty heavily. Get ready to read multiple sources to understand basic concepts.
Lillis gets a bad rap because he teaches the hardest subjects. In reality, he's a great professor who's very engaged in the material. You will need to work to succeed in his class. Tests are easy compared to homeworks. It does take him awhile to grade exams, but he grades them personally which is nice.
There's good amount of programming assignments, but this was during the summer session. The exams are a breeze if you do the sample problems. No textbook and has lecture capture. He demystifies every line of code, so at the end of the semester, you know what you're writing and why you're writing it.
Go to lecture. He basically gives out the answer. You end up learning the material after class as long as you pay attention. He is to the point and will reinforce the material trough multiple examples. The hw was too hard and used multiple sources to grasp it. Other than that I actually liked the professors teaching method and enjoyed the class
Lillis is an intelligent man, however he assumes that we are all capable of grasping a concept simply because he is the one teaching it. His way of teaching can be difficult for some people to grasp and he will sometimes answer questions with sarcasm as if we already know the answer. My advice is to avoid him if possible.
Super smart, very nice. Can be a lenient grader. He takes forever to grade assignments, and his lectures can be really vague. He gives you some exposure to concepts, but he does not really teach you how to apply them when you program. He just gives us a few ideas and then we're just left on our own to figure everything else out, which isn't helpful
Challenging professor that teaches you the underlying theory for computer science concepts. The theory is often difficult to learn, but if you put the time in the concepts stay with you. This understanding of theory makes applying data structures in the future much easier.
Professor Lillis is a genius. His teaching style is an acquired taste, however, once you understand his flow, you will learn about the subject in ways you wish you could in other classes. However, he is terrible when it comes to feedback on homework and programs. DO NOT expect grades back till the next semester. How do we know where we stand?
Professor Lillis' teaching style is excellent at weeding out those people who aren't really dedicated students. The people who show up to half the classes and expect to get an A handed to them are the ones complaining. He is a great teacher and puts a lot of effort into helping the students understand the material He doesn't deserve a score of 2.8
Smart guy. Lectures are boring but necessary in order to do well on exams. The biggest issue with this class is grading. Expect to go into the final blind of what your overall grade is. Also should note that we did not know our first few project and homework grades before our drop date.. so again..
He is not a bad professor, his lectures are understandable and he is super nice and helpful. The assignments were very difficult and the exams weren't much better, but I can't say that this is his fault, its the material. The biggest problem I had with the class is the lack of feedback until the last week of the semester.
he's very disorganized, no feedback,; went into the final not knowing what grade i had. exams are average difficulty. overall terrible experience. do -NOT- take him if you have a choice
He is a bad professor, lectures are not helpful as he assumes you know everything. His code are very hard and his test cases are impossible to get through. You never learn the things you need in order to do a project.
I took Data Structures with Professor Lillis in the summer semester and I will tell you that he's not as bad as people make him out to be. The material for this class is difficult for anyone the first time they're learning it. His projects are difficult but he gives you test suites to let you know how you're doing with project requirements.
Honestly, this man is so underrated. The people who complain are those who don't put in the effort. Lillis stays for hours helping students with the programs when he could easily just go home (literally stayed 7 hours helping people). His class requires a lot of effort, but it's so rewarding. His lectures are super informative and he loves it.
Lectures were disorganized. Projects and exams were difficult. Takes awhile to get grades back. I can't say he was awful though. He was helpful during office hours and at least he had an optional project that dropped your lowest between the first 2 projects if you did well. Also, his final exam dropped the lowest of your 2 midterms if you did well.
Its clear to me that skipping class, although totally cool with him (no participation points for lecture), will ruin your grade in the class. Its safe to say that this one of those courses that truely tests your problem solving skills, its not easy. However, lots of test cases for programs and good lecture notes and lecturing make it easier.
Loveable guy but the material is very difficult. On top of that you are taking 1-2 other CS classes and most likely a calculus class. Put as much time aside for this class as possible. It is very beneficial to learn and get as much possible out of it for internships. Still, that final was pretty whack. Nothing could have prepared me more for it...
Programs are very difficult but with clear outlines and usually test cases to run. Homework and Projects do not adequately prepare you for the exams. Final exam was preposterously difficult and no study materials were given. Slides are disorganized and lengthy.
Pros: He has a really generous curve. Cons: Literally everything else. Grading is ludicrously slow and no feedback is ever given on projects. He implied on piazza that anyone who couldn't do the last question on the final cheated in their project and whenever someone states something they don't like he simply says "I disagree".
Extremely hard class. Mostly because Lillis A: does not grade projects quickly. B: lectures over students heads very quickly. He will move on as fast as possible.C: teaches by giving small problem sets, of difficult problems and expects the student to not need extra help. If you don't understand the material after the 5 problem homework, good luck
I took CS 251 over the Summer of 2018. I think it was one of the best choices i made. The course is difficult, but i don't think it's the professor making it difficult, the material in itself is difficult. Do good on the projects, put in the effort, show up to lectures and you will be fine.
Professor was good, boring lectures but you have to power through it. The class is difficult because of the material. projects are straightforward and he gives test suites to test it before submitting. Biggest complaint is how long it took for grades. We did not receive midterm grades, no grades before add/drop period ended. Grading was the worst
There were 3 classes for 251 each had 120 students in it.. when the grades were out 94 failed the class and 43 withdrew with W soo that's 137 student's couldn't make it thru. Very Hard programs never finished it completely. He prepares two set of question papers in midterm to catch up the wandering eyes!!. All the best!!
Lillis puts so much effort to make 251 as easy as possible by coding his own test cases and if the students are interested, he will go to the CS lounge. Quick Info: If you got less than a B in 141, then you're not ready for 251. Why? 141 is curved, so a B can easily be 70 and exams are open note, so 70 means you're really not ready for 251.
John is a a good professor that gets flak for teaching a tough course. Data Structures may very well be one of the toughest CS courses at UIC and the students like to complain about it -- put in work and you will succeed.
Professor Lillis is not clear in his lectures and often times the projects assigned will feel completely different from the material taught in lecture. He does lecture capture which makes the class easier to go back and comprehend. I would not recommend taking Lillis.
Lillis is tough but good. If you attempt the work, pay attention, and go to OHs, you'll get data structures. Otherwise, it'll be rough. Tips: -Try all problems before asking for help. If you haven't, he'll still help, but grouchily. -Fully understand pointers before taking the class. -Use office hours. He has lots and is very helpful during them.
Difficult class, very slow grading.
You gotta understand a large portion of the people talking smack are folks who have just come out of cs 141, and in the following semester take cs 211, cs 251, cs 261, and maybe a math and a gen ed, these classes require work even if you think youre pretty slick up there. Had him in the summer, sorting is boring no matter what, but hes a good guy.
Prof. Lillis will spend a lot of time happily going over concepts in and beyond office hours. He puts in a lot of effort to the lectures as well and does a good job of teaching. However, the assignments and tests are out of this world difficult and will shatter your morale. Grading is very difficult but curved for students. Hardest 401 section.
Worst professor I have ever taken. While he does know what he is talking about in his lectures, he was not an accessible person responding to emails and updating grades. Grades were barely updated on the week of finals and had a weird grading scale implemented at the last minute. I'm sure he's a different person in his office hours than online..
Lillis is one of the best CS professors at UIC. Data structures is a tough subject, especially to the students pass CS141 with anything other than an A. You need to participate and put in a lot of time to this class inorder to do well! There is a reason that this is the only CS course worth 4 credits!
Lillis is a great professor, anyone who says otherwise just wasn't willing to put in the effort... or just didn't want to have to think. His assignments are very challenging - they force you to really think. They are basically the types of problems you will see in whiteboard interviews, so they're great practice. If you want to LEARN, take Lillis.
Not great, not terrible. Lectures are mostly slow ramblings over slides. The second homework was basically an assignment to teach ourselves because he didn't give us much info on how to do it. COMPLETELY inaccessible outside of class and office hours, he does not respond on piazza or to emails. Extra credit incorporated into last 2 projects.
You've gotta love when the semester is over and not even half the grades are in, and piazza questions of "will there be a curve" or "what's the grading situation" are responded to with an instructor-endorsed answer of, "Who knows?" Changing project requirements the day it's due is ridiculous, and this kind of thing happened several times. Not cool.
Lillis' lectures are him side tracking off topic, and his labs are short and easy. He is terrible at creating instructions for projects and will even change the requirements the day its due. When I wrote this after the finals ended there are still 4 projects that are ungraded dating back to October 1. Doesn't answer any questions, who knows.
I've never hated a professor more. From someone not putting grades in until literally the 10th week of school not knowing where you are in the class and refusing to answer questions just shows how ignorant this professor is. I hated this class and will dread taking it next semester because of how horrible he was last semester.
For me, 211 was co-taught with Lillis and Patrick Troy with lectures done by Lillis. Lectures were very unorganized and I stopped going to them after the second one. Also, many of the projects were not graded until the end of the course! After taking our final exam, 4 projects were ungraded. There was a curve, but wow was this course unorganized
no tags match this guy's style. He gets so annoyed when people ask questions while he's lecturing and sometimes doesn't answer them. He'll send you to google during a lecture before answering your question in class. I took all required classes before this one and learned c++, this one is on c and he didn't teach just jumped right in. not a fan
This guy will NOT respond to emails! I've emailed him twice, and he just ceases to respond even with one consisting of an error in his rubric. He gives us starter code for a program full of moosh we've never learned in a new language (C) and wont bother teaching us what it means. He didn't open up Piazza until week 3...
Dont take this professor at all if you want to understand this class. He's the most unorganized and lazy prof I've ever seen. He does not know how to teach and tells us that lab is online 10 mins after the lab has started. In addition he doesn't bother explaining starter code which makes no sense, since C is a new language we learn in this class.
This guy is a TERRIBLE professor. He posted a very complicated auto-grader a day before the deadline, then had ERRORS in it so it did not even work like it should. I had to make my code wrong to get credit (think about that). Programs are easy, dealing with him, his laziness, and lack of responsibility towards students is beyond difficult.
I am only a few weeks into class, and this professor has to be the most unprofessional person I've dealt with in all of my years in college. Even if you finish your work on time responsibly, he moves the goal posts on projects that are due last second on a weekend when you can't even talk to TAs for help. If only there was anyone else teaching 211
I don't really keep track my schedule much but I'm pretty sure the due date of project 2 is 6 more days. Hold on guys , did he post the project 2 yet? I have been waiting for him to release the project since last week.
Dude just dipped teaching this class. Just doesn't show up today, with no notice and no update. We're all waiting for him to post the quiz for days now. At this point I'm actually more worried if he's ok or not.
The entire course structure of 211 doesn't make sense. A lot of it is just doing labs, where they leave us in breakout rooms with a document with instructions. Then we take a lab quiz. He releases the programs late too. C is a relatively hard language to learn for me, and I would appreciate it if there was structure in the course. Sadly, there isnt
He is a terrible prof. I swear whatever you do don't take this guy, he's the worst prof I have ever seen because 1) this mf doesnt doesn't know how to teach 2) he posts the lab quizzes very late/ whenever he wants to 3) he doesn't have test cases for programs he makes you write 4) Takes forever grade projects. He Should look for a new profession.
Not available through email or piazza. Class is poorly administered and it's Lillis' responsibility. Deadlines on projects, etc are often wrong. Grades aren't received until weeks after completed.
I don’t usually rate a professor but when I see INJUSTICE happen towards a professor I need to speak up. Most students recently giving bad rating are so over the top and exaggerating blaming the professor instead of their own incompetence. It is a challenging class but you learn a lot from it. The class structure in my opinion is PERFECT.
One of the best professors I have ever had. Always helping students out, makes the class super easy, and teaches students extremely well. He is always available for help and makes the class extremely organized. The class is an easy A and you learn so much. Hands down just an incredible professor.
It's a pity how poor of an administrator he is because he's actually a good lecturer and does know how to teach. However, when it comes to lab quizzes and programs, this class is a waste of time. Nobody goes to labs, program deadlines are never maintained, he just didn't give us an entire midterm. I pity the next batch of students who gets him.
This prof doesnt show up to class, he dropped the class before we did. Honestly though I could cra p on him real hard here and those who do have good reason but I cant stay mad at the old man from up (balloon movie) forever. He grades exams easy, programs hard (if he grades) I got 50% on one and 60% on the other, but curves heavy I got A in class.
I found the class easy, but I have never seen a professor more disorganized and confused. His lectures were pointless, so I didn't attend and there were crazy amounts of ambiguity in his projects.
Practically no syllabus, doesnt teach you to code, only difficult examples during class. Never responds to emails, questions or concerns. Youre better off searching answers than trying to have him teach.
I was close to dropping out of college after struggling to figure out what I wanted to do, but I decided to stick around for one more semester. Taking Lillis's class completely changed my life. I've never had someone give such captivating and soul-touching lectures before. He reignited my love for CS. Now, I'll be graduating with my BS this fall.
Professor Lillis is the most unprofessional professor I have experienced at this university. He is unorganized in his lectures and assigning the work needed for labs and class. This is suppose to be an intro level coding class but does not make an attempt to teach from scratch or explain thoroughly during his examples. Does not have patience either
I went to his office hours one time and he took me out to a five course meal! Supposedly he does this for all of his students as he understands how expensive college can be. No other professor comes close to how generous and caring Lillis is
hard to get in touch with, never responded to emails, piazza that he created for the class. hws are very difficult considering the material given in lecture. Changes grades, my homework 1 grade was changed 7 times due to auto-graded mess. Opens assignments day its due. Extends due dates after due date passed. Overall do not take him.
the professor never teaches. never uses textbook. this class is for advanced coders, regardless of the title of it being an intro to C and MatLab. if you see this prof do not take him and wait until the next semester when it is a different professor
Such an unorganized class! He never responses to your emails or piazza, TAs don't help you much with the class, weird autograder that will give you a bunch of 0 and then you'll have to email the Professor and basically he never reads his emails. I hate that UIC has only one option which is him for this class. Never take him again in my life.
Nothing ever gets graded on time and lectures are all over the place. Would never be at his office hours and sometimes would miss class in person and claim he was "sick". Sucks that he was the only option for this semester.
Awful class! Will never take this professor again!
I took Professor Lillis' CS 109 class and he was an excellent teacher. He made the class engaging and used real-world examples to explain complex concepts. He encouraged questions and was always available for extra help. I give him a 5 out of 5 rating. Highly recommend him for anyone looking to improve their understanding of MATLAB and C.
Worst professor Ive ever encountered in my life. He does not respond to emails, cancels class 6 min before class, does not respond to emails, cancels office hours, and does not take his job seriously. avoid him at all costs if you can. only reason he isn't fired is because he's tenured.
He really did not have a clear grading structure at all. Auto graders weren't even ready before the due date. We often had to turn in the coding assignment blind. Regrades did not work. You had to go and talk to somebody. Grading was a mess. His lectures were not helpful because he often assumed we know what he is talking about.
Take a peice of paper and burn it. This would give you more information.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
20%
Textbook Required
26%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.53 avg changeRatings by Course
CS202
3.9
(7)CS141
3.6
(12)CS251
3.1
(36)CS201
3.0
(10)CS301
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
EECS260
5.0
CIS107
5.0
CSCS
5.0
CS401
5.0
CS107
4.8