Very difficult class, this teacher is insane!

I think Dr. Rogaway is HOT in a nerdy way. He is very intelligent and I would recommend any of his classes if you like a challenge. Don't worry it's curved!!

This guy is insane in the membrane. He is hecka hard, grades like a Nazi, but is very..well...different man. Our class was small, so we got to know him as this rebel, hippie of a guy who does care about his students, and enjoys torturing them as well!

Tough course, but he teaches it well. Fun guy. Not so sure about "grades like a nazi"...he assigns tough problems and grades them fairly. Of course, because the problems are tough, you might get them wrong and then (fairly) get a zero.

His test questions are almost all from previous tests and quizes, but with the harsh way he grades, the test grade you get will show how well you can mind your P's and Q's much more than reflecting what you acctually know. Great at presenting the material though. Reguardless, take someone else!

Great class, great teacher. Highly recommended. If you invest time in the homeworks, you WILL learn the material.

Brilliant, clear. Expects a lot from his students. One of the best teachers I've had in 25 years of schooling.

He is a good professor. He knows the material very well, and explains very well, although the material itself are VERY VERY abstract. You defenitly have to work VERY VERY hard in his class to get an A. The Class is based on the curve, so don't panic if you get 10%-20% in homework. Overall VERY VERY tough course, but he is a good instructor.

If you are really interested in Math/Computer Science, you will find this Prof. is really smart and, what is more important, his teaching is enjoyable that can makes you love the field even more.

My favorite professor so far! I never went to office hours or anything so I don't really know about helpfulness, but he was great at explaining new concepts and made a point of learning to actually think about problems rather than memorizing solutions. He really seems to care about his students, and his delightful nerdiness made the class very fun.

Excellent instructor! Dr. Rogaway expects a lot from his students, but puts just as much, if not more into teaching. He explains everything really well and is very available in office hours. Homework assignments were interesting and representative. Ye be warned, prepare for the oral exam. He will figure out if you don't know what you're doing. :)

Tough, but rewarding. You earn your grade, whatever it may be. Rogaway is patient and helpful and quite good at explaining difficult topics.

Tough, but rewarding. You earn your grade, whatever it may be. Rogaway is patient and helpful, and quite good at explaining difficult concepts.

Prof Rogaway is one of the three professors I admire. He is extremely smart and his class is extremely demanding - demand hard work and hard thinking. But it's all good thing in his class. I always hope that his class can be put online so I have an opportunity to review it again.

He has a way with words that few CS professors have. This class, on ethics, meant that it was primarily discussion of readings from the compilation of excerpts that serves as the course's textbook. The quizzes and final exam are difficult; make sure to read articles multiple times. Participate in class discussion and you should do well.

Rogaway was a good prof. The material is very abstract and can be very hard, but it is very rewarding in the end. Rogaway used old test and homeworks so be sure to look at those and youll be fine..

Professor Rogaway is an excellent professor. The material given in the class is extremely difficult but I feel he does his best to teach it well. Always open to explaining and discussing material and just a generally nice guy. Definitely one of my best professors I had during my time at UCD.

This class took me a lot of effort. His quizzes are quite predictable and are based on the homework. All of his exams draw on the homework or lecture in some way, so you don't feel that you are starting from nothing on a test. Homework took me forever to do but was SATisfying to complete.

It's a tough class but Rogaway is encouraging and fair. HW's are hard. Quizzes are hard. Expect to spend time at office hours, don't miss class, and review your mistakes on quizzes because he repeats questions.

Challenging but ultimately fulfilling course. Rogaway is one of the best professors I've had, and easily my favorite. Very enthusiastic about the course material, and about teaching in general. Also just an excellent person - brilliance sans hubris is a rare treat. And his politics page, if you can find it, will change you.

A top tier professor. He does not depend on textbook as he knows the material well. Class workload is quite light, his grading is set-up in such a way so that the lazy high IQ person will do better than the hardworking dumb people (Assuming you don't cheat on the test and hw). Also, one of the harshest test grader ever.

If you were accepted to MIT or an Ivy League school but for some reason chose UC Davis, and you're a math wizzard, this is the guy you want to take. The man is a genius and unlike most genius, he is actually articulate and can explain things extremely well, hence you will learn a lot. If on the other hand you are a mortal, like I am, don't do it!

Professor Rogaway is soooo cool.

He teaches you how to handle randomness in life, how to break the rules, expect the unexpected on the test... difficulty and dog day, and no book lecture and w/e. His last minute speech was quite interesting. I think he wants you to know that Grades aren't everything, and Sometimes in life you have to fail and he doesn't get paid to pass you.

Rogaway is a great teacher. It's clear he cares about his students; almost compulsively. I think what you gain in this class is a solid foundation of problems solving / critical thinking skills from which to build your CS or Math education on. The homework is just the right level of challenging, and well handcrafted; exams hard, class curved.

Rogaway is extremely intelligent, knows the material well, and is very accessible. His homework, tests, and quizzes are hard but fair. Office hours are very helpful in mastering the material. Rogaway's class really forces you to problem solve and think critically which is so important in computer science. One of my favorite professors so far.

This professor is a genius. He cares about his students and he loves what he does. Very smart, very good lecturer, helpful and friendly. His tests are easy if you actually put forth the effort. I got a C but I put forth absolutely zero effort. If you want to learn then take Rogaway. If you want to feel pain and be tortured take Rogaway. Thanks Prof

If you get an opportunity to take a class with Rogway, take it. He creates a perfect balance in his courses: work load is not excessive, each problem is purposeful, no unnecessary tedium, quizes and exams leave you with enough time to relax and think about what you're doing, lectures are fun, and exams are based on homework and lecture.

Rogaway is one of the best professor's that I've had at Davis. He is clear, concise and entertaining as a lecturer. His class is hard, but provided you do the work, you will do well.

One of the best professor's I've ever had. Clear on the material, I rarely needed to read the textbook. Be ready to work because the homework take a lot of time, especially if you do it on the last day.

Read up on definitions, understand concepts, attend lectures (discussion for examples, maybe OH for hw), and do not procrastinate. His grading is 1010 for all correct, less than half for incorrect so be rigorous. The book does not cover Myhill-Nerode theorem, Rogaway's awesomeness, trees and sun so attend lecture. Do not cheat, work hard, ezpz.

Unfair grading. This was the first class I got C grade from, even though I worked really hard and loved the material.

He is a very good Professor, his lectures are clear and on the other side the HWs and exams are tough.

His TA's were tough graders and gave no partial credit for short answer problems on the homework. Besides them, Rogaway was awesome though but extremely difficult. No textbook, everything was based off of lecture, so don't skip! his homeworks were conceptually difficult and requires tons of hours of thinking. Would i take again? Probably not.

The class itself was a very interesting experience and the topics we covered were something that I enjoyed going into. However, the amount of reading we had to do was insane. It was more than 20 pages per class on average. Some of the quiz questions had very little to do with the actual paper. The final project wasn't too bad though.

Great professors are hard to come by. It was a fortune and honor to sit in Prof. Rogaway's ECS 227 class and learn modern cryptography, an incredibly challenging field in computer science. Professor's teaching is very clear and precise, just like what good cryptography should be. The homework is very difficult, demanding a lot of thinking.

Best professor I've had at Davis. Very funny, quirky, and has the best lectures I've had at Davis. Homework is very challenging, which ends up teaching you a lot. However, it is not the tedious type of challenging, it is the type that makes you think and is honestly pretty fun. Don't take if you hate math though, but you'll love it if you do.

Prof Rogaway is very passionate about the ethics topics he covers in class. LOTS of reading, a few writing assignments, and there are short open-note quizzes at the beginning of every class. Final project is easy. Quizzes are short so they can affect your grade a lot, so make sure you read! I should've gotten a B in the class but he gave me an A :)

Weekly psets (30% of grade) are challenging and require a significant time commitment, but working through them really cements understanding of the topics/concepts at hand. He provides problem solutions after that are very in-depth. Haven't taken the final yet but MT was fair and a breeze in comparison.

Lectures are mindbending but never boring. For teaching, struggles to explain things to beginners bc he's a literal genius. For problem sets, get ready to put in LOTS of work. Pro tip: go to office hours to get help from TAs. Make room for this class in your schedule and it'll be fine :) Also Rogaway gives off sweet old man vibes and he's an icon.

This man slows down for nobody. If you already have some knowledge of basic mathematics, take his class and you will not regret it. It will be very difficult, but that's what you get for an amazing professor, extremely interesting lectures and very fun practice problems. If you like math, take Rogaway!

A lot of his critique just comes from the fact that this class is difficult, and yes it is the hardest class I have taken at Davis. But this class was not just about the grade. I learned so much more. I feel so honored to have him teach me and just listening to him talk makes it worth all of the struggle. Assignments are very hard but not undoable.

lots of challenging material in lecture. weekly homework problem sets, 5-6 questions on average with each question taking 1 hr. work is worth the knowledge; exams and homework are freakin' hard but Rogaway is a genius, kind, respected, and clearly knows a lot about his field. work hard, push through, don't let a score discourage you. 10/10

Does a very good job explaining and teaching everything. You'll know your stuff fs. HW is HARD + long, definitely use Piazza/discord/office hrs. 25% midterm, 45% final, 30% HW. Expect to get pulverized but the curve is so phat 55% B. Course much harder than should be, but grade distribution is normal for ECS courses. Average grade pre-curve 60%.

This class is really about thinking outside of the box logically. Learning how to think creatively like this was incredibly difficult, but also immensely satisfying if you managed it. I would love to take this class again just to further develop the skill, but the grading aspect was definitely a challenge. The curve turned out to be rather big tho

By far the hardest class I've ever taken. Homeworks took me well over 8+ hours despite them only being 5-6 questions long. However, Prof. Rogaway is clearly passionate and overall he really cares about presenting the material well. Lectures were engaging and interesting, and Rogaway was always open to answering questions. Tough class but rewarding.

An incredible professor and super passionate about teaching. Office hours are gonna be your best friend and dont be scared to go to Profs OH it can be intimidating but they are super helpful. I would love to take another class with professor Rogaway, Ive definitely benefited greatly from his teaching and have gained some great skills.

Professor Rogaway is extremely passionate about his field, maybe a little too passionate at times. That being said, this class is very challenging but rewarding. The class is going to be incredibly time consuming but depending on how you choose to approach the class, you can see it as a learning opportunity or as a bunch of excessively hard work.

The course itself is interesting if you like mathematics. Homework problems are challenging, I spent 1-2 hours every day to finish them. The midterm and final focus more on the understanding of definitions, so certainly memorize as much as you can. Go to discussions, they are really helpful. Professor Rogaway is very nice and willing to help.

He's a really kind, knowledgeable professor and it's clear that he is passionate about the subject and the class. Lectures are fun and engaging, however, it is important to pay attention to these since most of the content is explained here. The weekly homework assignments are really difficult and may take more than 5-6 hours. Class is curved.

This class was way harder than it needed to be. The homework was very time consuming, despite only being a few questions per week, and I was not confident in at least 30% of the questions on the midterm and the final. The content itself was well covered and very interesting, and the class was curved in the end, but man, was it stressful.

Very knowledgeable and kind man, no doubt he is a great professor, but I spent an ungodly amount of time doing his homeworks and studying for exams. Try to process and understand EVERYTHING in this class, as quiz/exam questions can be tricky if misread. Regardless of the tears I shed for this class dat curve was phat and saved me + alot of others

Concepts were tough, and I had to spend a lot of time rewatching lectures + going to OH for help. HW can be time consuming so start ASAP. He’s a very kind person and also extremely smart so you might feel dumb, but he’s helpful when answering q's. 4 quizzes + 1 midterm, study the lecture examples and problemset answers. Big curve at the end.

Get ready to spend a lot of time doing the homework. However, you learn how to think in this class more than anything. There are very few professors at this university who knows how to teach us what really matters in the future. I would definitely take him if there was another class that he teaches.

(Winter 2022) Rogaway is honestly an amazing, inspirational professor. Loved going to every single class, they were hard as hell but so worth. There is a bi-weekly quiz, and one homework assignment weekly with 5-8 questions but they take hours, so prepare to work. No partial credit, so until he curves at the end, you don't know your exact grade.

Lots of reading, and quizzes that quiz on very specific things which is the only problem I would have with this class. Overall, workload isn't too bad with lots of reading but few writing assignments. Insightful class with great discussions with Rogaway as he is a really great lecturer.

Hands down the best CS professor at UC Davis right now (he might :( leave). I'm not oblivious of the fact that this class with him is extremely tough but he teaches it with a lot of passion and tries to help the students in any way he can. The lectures are extremely fun and captivating, I would definitely take a class with him again.

This is likely Professor Rogaway's last quarter here, which is just depressing. His lectures are beyond engaging and not a single one ever seemed dull or boring. Don't get me wrong his class is extremely hard, but the way he teaches and speaks makes you genuinely interested in the material.

Content is challenging but in a good way. Learned a lot. Best professor I've had so far.

If the space aliens ever tell you that Rogaway is a bad professor, don't trust them. He is passionate about his work and he cares about his students, but he doesn't make his class a cake walk. He will challenge your intuition deeply and make sure you think critically about what you learn. Very good professor, just don't look at your raw grade.

"Fellow countrymen should treat each other with honesty and trust. This is the most challenging journey of enlightenment taught to us by the supreme guide of wisdom."

It's hard but he makes it worth it. He is the most genuine prof in CS here and his attitude toward this subject is one of deep curiosity/intrigue. Graded on 9 quizzes and final all of which had low scores but he curves at end to deal w this. Recorded lecs but he seemed to regret it :( Not an easy A but his lectures were worth the trouble :D

he is honestly the greatest cs professor to ever grace the cs department. he teaches in a way that makes lectures very engaging and speaks with intent and clarity. if he is ever seen teaching again, please take him! the class is very difficult but he curves, so the rogaway experience is completely worth it.

O Captain, My Captain. A well respected prof for good reason.

ithe guy is incredible. his lectures are clear and easy-to-follow, and although his material is really hard, you end up learning a lot. highly recommend.

Only the Professor who made me feel like an in-person class is more valuable. He gives you a reason to show up, as opposed to what the rest of the professors tend to do, create artificial barriers for those who don't so they can justify a class. Oh... but he is absolutely insane, but you might regret never taking a Rogaway course.

Genuinely the best CS professor at UCD. A world-renowned cryptographer that is kind enough to share his knowledge with us. The class was not easy, but it forced one to put in the work and really understand the material. Lectures were crystal-clear and well-paced; as a matter of fact, I enjoyed coming to class in spite of it being a requirement.

prof. rogaway is a genuinely excellent professor whom i am grateful to have taken a class with. his lectures are fast-paced and difficult, but you learn a lot. the homework is challenging, but it teaches you great thinking skills, particularly how to think like a cryptographer. approachable, respected, and has left a great legacy here at uc davis.

This class was special. Non-"academic" in the best way. Rogaway inspired me to be more confident in my actions and to be more inquisitive: to not accept things at face value. With many graduating and Rogaway himself retiring, as this class wound down there was an overwhelming sadness; a sense that everyone was moving on. It brought us all together.

The professor is engaging and passionate, but the course is quite challenging. Quizzes can be tough, but a curve is usually applied. Definitely worth the effort - lectures are insightful, and tools like unstuck study can help with study prep.