3.3
Quality3.8
Difficulty54%
Would Retake103
Reviews54%
Would Retake
103
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
37
4
23
3
6
2
13
1
24
What Students Say
“I am 100% sure that he has never been exposed to real database systems in the industry”
CPSC471 - 1.0 rating“Homework is terribly long and questions are difficult”
CPSC471 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
13%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.40 avg changeRatings by Course
CMP102
5.0
(1)ARDA
5.0
(1)CPSC771
3.5
(2)CPSC471
3.4
(89)CPSC571
2.7
(10)Difficulty by Course
CPSC471
3.9
CPSC571
3.8
ARDA
3.0
CMP102
2.0
CPSC771
1.0
Reviews (103)
A very competent, albeit unexciting teacher. He knows his stuff, and conveys it well.
treated us like we were morons, can't blame him though the guy in the front shouting out wrong answers like he had been lobotimized didn't help. his test and assignments were WAY too vauge and could have focused more on the matirial with less make work labor. Over all he could have been one of my top profs if he improved tests and assignments.
No Comments
Nothing to learn nothing to earn. What he is trying to say, rather read books?
I took his course, it was easy if you follow the book and old lecture notes. Another fellow took the same course under Dr. Denilson, they covered lots of reading stuff. He need to change his course pattern and upgrade with new topics.
Class and lectures are not organized
amazed how he lectures without any notes and did not skip any of the topics listed in the courses outline. He returned back our exam papers on time and his grading system is fair. Though it is a spring course, he managed to cover the content as a regular semester course. I enjoyed the project, I felt myself already employed.
I tend to fully agree with the last comment. I also completed 471 in Spring. He teaches by experience. I am happy I decided not to take the course before. Hey guys planning to take 471 next year, inquire if Alhajj is again offering the course and go for him. I highly recommend this and you will never regret getting state of the art material.
Just got the info I needed for my current job; I learned how to think and develop the solution in scientific way. I spent 6 exciting weeks in the Spring. Serious lecturing and comprehensive exams. Just learned a lot and recommend everyone to take 471 if to work as database designer.
Judt Great. I already decided to register in 571.
It is one or the main courses in CPSC and I feel myself lucky because I took from him. His lectures are very good.
Old lecture notes. Easy exams
Just got the info I needed for my current job; I learned how to think and develop the solution in scientific way. I spent 6 exciting weeks in the Spring. Serious lecturing and comprehensive exams. Just learned a lot and recommend everyone to take 471 if to work as database designer.
This professor is JUST GREAT. I already decided to register in 571.
Easy course, small syllabus, low research quality, like a fish he publishes papers lot but nothing countable in merit and quality.
I am very excited about the course project.
The mixture of grad and undergrad students in the class is good; stimulates more discussion.
The exam was long, but comprehensive and balanced
The course is very practical the lecture covers more material than the book. I feel it will help me to find a job the project gives me real life experience. All in all I like the course
I realized how a graduate course should be. Actvities encourages students for improving themselves. This course helped me understood thinking out of the box and see how a research could be done. I am lucky my advisor recommended me to take this course. I took the research guidelines with this course already.
Alhajj is the best CPSC professor at the UofC for lecturing and marking!! One of the most generous markers ever and his lectures are very good as he doesn't use ready-made PPT slides. His project was soo much fun, and I like the fact he gives quizzes. It makes you learn the material better. I recommend this course to every CPSC major as an option.
My favoriate professor ever!!!!
he is a great professor
Same material over years. He only explains queries as if database is just about queries. Assignments and exams are the same from previous years. He does not prepare for his lectures.
Real prof, has a lot of knowledge and he doesnt mind sharing it, BEST MARKER of all Comp Sci profs ... for sure the best professor in Comp Sci at UofC ... teach the basics so well that you are totally prepared to take on projects for the future
Not good prof. Does not listen to students at all. Does not provide any feedback. Keeps course evaluation procedure unclear and changes it when ever he wants.
Reda is not a good prof, he is lazy and writes scribble on the chalk board for 50 minutes. Does not explain anything properly. The TA's taught me everything, khobaib and tamer rock. He provides no feedback on anything in the class. 70 percent of grade is in last 3 weeks of class with ZERO feedback. Project is tough get a head start!
An old school professor who still thinks database systems are all about relational algebra and other theory related topics. I am 100% sure that he has never been exposed to real database systems in the industry. He is a nice person but he needs a lot of update queries to his lectures.
Prof. Alhajj has been teaching this course for years, so takes some information from the text and some straight from his head. Must attend lectures since he writes on the board a lot. Good TAs and would take a course with him again.
Professor Alhajj knows this course inside and out. There are a few tricky parts to the course, so attending all lectures is highly recommended, as well as Alhajj's tendency to show an easier way to solve a problem in class. All in all you will learn a lot from a great professor.
Very good professor.
A terrible instructor. Mostly away from his office and unavailable. Just leaves students to do project work on their own. He favours students from his own lab in his courses. Does not tell anything concrete and keeps on changing his statement about grading schemes. Old school thought professor. There should be a better instructor to teach database
His lectures are almost useless as he simply scribbles on the board and then crosses everything out, creating a giant unreadable mess. His quizzes and tests are difficult to finish due to their length, and they test your ability to understand cryptic - barely English questions full of double negatives, instead of your knowledge on the course.
You will never spend more time searching a terrorist database! Decent, not amazing. Notes were sometimes unorganized. Shares tips and tricks to solve the more difficult problems. Term-long group project is worth 30% of the mark. It does give a chance to use the course material. Makes tests quite long - Most people ran out of time.
I have never seen such unprofessional standards from a professor teaching "close to 30 years". Dr. Reda will consistently ignore student emails. Very disorganized, the quizzes would happen before the assignment was due so you just end up making the same mistakes again. Such an important course but Dr. Reda made me hate databases and myself.
Two days after lectures for the semester ended (a week before the final project is due) we have not gotten any assignments marked. He gives poor explanations for what he wants on quizzes, tests, and especially assignments. The assignments didn't actually have to do anything with the course material. Definitely will not take his courses again.
His quizzes have a minimal amount of time and they take a while. He extends due dates for assignments right before they are due. If you complain he hits you with his 20 years of experience and tells you to get better.
Boring Lectures. He have a really bad microphone, so never take online course with him. He talk too much that were off topic and I'm having a hard time to understand what is he trying to express.
This guy can't be serious. His lectures might be the worst I've seen yet. His microphone is a certified potato so you won't hear 60% of the words he says during lectures even with headphones on. Also he makes some kind of notes/drawing on his lectures in a small tile in the corner of the screen. Doesn't make Zoom tutorial passwords accessible. BAD!
Semester isn't even over yet but have much to complain. Lecture quality is horrible and he scribbles messy notes to go along with his slides. Watching them makes me more confused than just reading the textbook. Makes two assignments due on the same day & does not give enough time for quizzes at all. Horrible prof PERIOD.
Lectures aren't great, but they closely follow the simple textbook, so it doesn't matter. 90% of homework is also from tbook. Guidance is provided for project database design, but little guidance is provided for project implementation, which is not a big deal. Tests require mastery of concepts rather than competency, which is my biggest complaint.
Project worth 30%. Our group followed all his guidelines and suggestions to a T, and it only introduced immense complications for us. I suggest you use tools your group is familiar with, rather than tools that he suggests, because you will get little support if you get lost.
Outright expects you to already know web development as a prerequisite. However there is no such course listed for 471, nor is there any course at U of C that actually teaches the web tools and languages he requires. He kept bragging about how usually he gets students to make both a website AND mobile app, rather than just a website. Avoid him!!!!!
The lectures are detailed, the quizzes are long so that barely completed on time. The exam was ok for the time given and the feedback given on 1-2-1 chat on zoom was clear. Project is long but looks beneficial to learn lots of practical things
Prof. Alhajj has been very cooperative this semester. He made himself available outside office hours to answer my questions on zoom. He clarified and explained in details with examples all concepts which I was not able to understand by myself especially the relational calculus universal quantifier and the multiple negations in calculus, sql and RA.
Lectures are somewhat lengthy, but manageable on 2x speed. The assignment feedbacks are received after quizzes, but the prof is available to answer questions by email and zoom calls. Not much tutoring was given for the project, so prepare to learn some web development on your own.
Too much work for one class. The homeworks are lengthy, we have saturday quizzes and we have to create a website with lots of details. I would estimate that this class takes three times as much time as a regular CPSC class.
Brutally long lectures about double in length from what they would be if they were in person. Quizzes, midterm, group project requiring us to build an API even though we were never taught how either in this class or in prereqs to this class. Homework is terribly long and questions are difficult. Lazy teaching - reusing videos from 1 year ago.
Today we had the exam, it was doable and the time was enough to complete the questions asked. The load in this course is really heavy.
A lot of homeworks and quizzes in addition to the exam and project. Had to work too much but seems to educate me how databases are developed and work. I wish the professor can give us more time to complete the work. Otherwise things are good
His video posted before the exam where he solved the second quiz was very helpful for me to understand the tricks in the questions and how to solve them incrementally as he suggested. Other than the heavy load, the course is very useful, I have learned a lot so far.
Prof. Elhajj has been very supportive by extending deadlines when needed, questions in the exam was not hard depending on quizzes and homeworks. Homeworks are longer and need long time to complete. The project is also a lot of work. May be reduce some of the load!
I am happy Dr. Reda postponed the deadlines understanding our load from the other courses while approaching the end of the semester, big thank you
From this course I got the information needed for my current job; I learned how to think and develop the solution in scientific way. I spent exciting weeks so far listening to the lectures. Serious lecturing and comprehensive exams. Just learned a lot and recommend everyone to take 471 if to work as database designer.
Amazing prof, has a lot of knowledge in database domain and he does not hesitate sharing it and guide students to what to face in life after BSc ... teach the basics so well that you are totally prepared to take on projects for the future
Lectures are horribly disorganized. I used them as a guideline then used the textbook to understand the content. Assignments are easy. Quizzes are fine, but not enough time. The project is unreasonable; they expect you to create a website with a working front-end even though it's a database class. Lots of self-teaching, not a great prof/class.
Quite possibly the worst class I have ever taken at UofC. The length of the lectures exceed the weekly limit and unless you can read his notes at 144p, ur better off self teaching. The group project is a mess, the class teaches u 30% of it, and the rest you have to learn yourself. The assignments are lengthy but copy pasted from the textbook.
350 characters is not enough to sufficiently articulate how horrible this prof. is. Course is terribly disorganized. Lectures were at time in excess of 4 hours on top of the 2 hours of tutorials. 3-credit hour course with 6-credit hour course load. Marking was ALWAYS late. Project is 10% DB 90% web dev. DB is super important so disappointing! :-(
Reda seems like a nice person overall and knows how to get you to start the assignment, though lectures are horrible quality. I can barely understand him through his horrible mic and his notes are incomplete to read alone. He need to invest in an iPad and write on that instead because his hand drawn notes are too complicated. Attend tutorials.
Reda is one of few instructors who listens to us and extends deadlines when requested. I enjoyed the course and learned a lot. Thank you for counting best 2 out of 3 quizzes though announced late!
The prof has deep experience in databases he convinced me to concentrate on the project because it is very practical. I talked to friends who completed the course and work in the companies. They confimed doing the project is a must. Dr. Alhaj understood our concerns and extended deadlines when needed
Dr. Alhajj gives too many details in the lecture. I want a summarized version of the lectures I do not have time to listen to all the lecture. sometimes I read the book because it is faster. The sample quizzes he posted and solved helped me prepare for the quizzes and exam. The feedback was delayed for all course assignments and quizzes and exam
Great course and serious prof who knows the material well. He gives a lot of assignments and quizzes and a project we do lot lot of work but learn much. exam and quizzes were long but marking was fair
Just completed the course, Reda is knowledgeable but the load of his courses is very heavy please reduce some components, otherwise everything went well
Reda is knowledgeable but too much details in the lectures could provide 2 versions one for students who like details and one for students who want at high level please consider this
Prof Alhajj listens to students and tries to help me when I was sick and could not complete things as scheduled, thank you so much
Someone keeps posting fake reviews here. The course load is way too high. The homeworks are like 20 hours each and there are 6 of them. The term project has way too many requirements and you get saturday quizzes. The course isnt hard its just too much work and the prof has to understand that we have multiple courses to take each semester.
frankly speaking one of the most beneficial courses when the job market is considered. I wish I took this course before the internship, I would have benefitted a lot though the load in the course is very heavy, please try to balance
sole criticism is the heavy load of the course, other than this I learned a lot from the detailed examples covered in lectures and tutorials, thank you to the instructors and TA
May be most challenging course ever enrolled in but learned some practical aspects of databases. I already seen some stuff during my intern, may be this excited me to the course. professor is knowledgeable
professor and TA have been very supportive
the lectures were synchronized with the tutorials, the TA was helpful with the project, but the project needed me to know some stuff outside the scope of the course though covered in tutorials to some level I had to learn some stuff by myself overall has been rewarding experience
Reda has been very responsive, the TA sometimes failed to response on time until emailing Reda to ping the TA to response, THANK YOU for the informative and valuable course though the load has been high!
Little guidance is given for the final project. Literally spent 80% of the time learning web development syntax for the project. You'll learn a lot if you self-teach but the amount of time you will have to dedicate is the equivalent of 2 electives at least.
Project project project, start early and choose group members who want to work and synchronize, otherwise you suffer, prof and TA were ok overall
knowledgeable instructor who explains in very details, lectures are long, project is rewarding but requires lot of time and effort
The Course Load is way too high for a simple databases class. Project requires a LOT of self learning and the course material doesnt even come close to helping due to the use of ORMs basically making most SQL queries you have to perform obsolete. Please rename this course to webApp dev and make it a project only course.
excellent course, prof and TA but very heavy load
Just dont take any course with him. He does NOT know how to teach. Just dont please. Save your money, do NOT take any course with him
Pre-recorded lectures were of bad quality. Reda didn't spend time on making useful and practical assignments and simply assignment homework problems from the book. Those homework problems are too long for what they're worth considering we also had quizzes and project to work on. Overall, Reda put a minimal to no amount of effort into this class.
having some challenging questions in the exams convinced me that the instructor is knowledgeable and experienced. The TA seems to have also inspired and covered any examples in details. I feel more confident writing queries. Please give us more time or reduce the number of questions.
Both project and tutorial TA were excellent, Thank you despite the heavy load
The homework assignments were long and took time to complete, the project was fairly marked well by the TAs and they were the main source of teaching the content. The lectures were so so you cannot rely on them to get you through the course you will need to put in extra time to understand. He was nice in sense of dropping the quizzes.
Reda does not teach practical things like how to create a database in SQL. You have to learn on your own to create the REST API final project. "20 years of experience" is not equivalent to actual skill.
After the semester is over I want to thank the TA and the instructor. Reda extended deadlines when needed, the marking was fair though the exams were long and the lectures included lot of stuff beyond the 3 hours weekly slots.
Very demanding and expects a lot of background in web development, API, etc. Lectures were long may be shortened
Prof. Alhajj is knowledgeable and teaches by experience. I could inspire this from the details and depth of his lectures. Please less homeworks and smaller project. The course load is extremely high.
Dr. Alhajj seems to know the course content. Though I learned from the project, I think it was longer than expected for 30% of the mark.
Dr. Alhajj is honestly one of the best professor you can get in University of Calgary. It is true that he wants a fully functional project which will likely involve web-dev related stuff is tough. But the knowledge you can get while doing that project is worth the hard work. Fair quiz and midterm if you do homework and practice quiz.
You will learn about basic data analysis in this course and do one project and one programming hw. Quiz and test are long and you won't be able to finish if you are not familiar with stuff he went over in lec. Project and programming HW are OK. Overall worth taking.
Great professor excellent slides, wonderful project. Everything was interesting and exciting, got my expected grade. Professor Alhajj cares and knowledgeable.
Dr. Alhajj is a great prof and I really enjoyed this course. I highly recommend attending lectures because he typically tells you exactly how to do questions on the exams that you otherwise wouldn't be able to look up online since he has his own way of doing DBMS design. My only complaint is the TA's inconsistent marking and unclear grading scheme
Lectures are impossible to follow and the prof is unhelpful
The group project was a good opportunity to learn how to develop practical application. The exam was graded fast, however the time was tight and some questions were hard to attempt.
Go to lectures and tutorials. Practice, practice, practice. Get started on your final project as soon as possible. As for Alhajj as an actual prof, I've had worse, but he isn't super engaging, isn't the best at explaining complicated topics, and he can grade pretty harshly, although he does seem to be forgiving...
Dr. Reda stretched a half chapter about basic ML stuff; then made 40% of our grades based around a group research project around ML; he uses this for his own research material (there is an opt-out form for this). The lack of care in this course was sad. Assignments and quizzes had the same questions from 471. Heaviest workload yet for CPSC. Avoid.
awful. supposed to be a database course but he steers away to machine learning? TAs are good, but biased towards their labmates taking the same course.
One of the worst profs in the cs department. Assignments are so heavy and only worth 5 percent each. Exams are HARD. Too much course work. He doesn't know how to explain concepts, not to mention his tedious, untidy way of writing and cramping too many words in such little space. Don't take this class if he teaches it.
His lectures are understandable when at 1.5x speed. He is also quite accommodating with extensions and provides accessible course materials. However, the inclusion of exams in a project-based course seems counterproductive, as the project and homework already demand significant time and effort, and the exams add an unnecessary layer of difficulty.
I do agree with the statement that his online lectures should be watched at 1.5x times haha. Tbh I learned 90% of the course from the TAs, he makes the content so much more confusing than it should be. As for the whole course itself, as long as you start on homework really early, attend all tutorials, and start the group project early, you're fine
To add onto my previous rating, the final project is also basically 90% self learning, because you're going to have to learn REST API full stack stuff if you haven't done that before
Like most have said, he really isn't great at explaining the material, the TA slides are far more helpful. Watch lectures at 1.5-2.5x speed. The workload was pretty rough as well, with many tedious assessments worth little of your grade. 5 exams, 5 assignments, plus a group project with various components. We were expected to know frontend for it.
The exams were tough you need to follow on the project step by step to complete as planned one of our group members dropped the course and we had to distribute the load it was not easy to complete
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
13%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.40 avg changeRatings by Course
CMP102
5.0
(1)ARDA
5.0
(1)CPSC771
3.5
(2)CPSC471
3.4
(89)CPSC571
2.7
(10)Difficulty by Course
CPSC471
3.9
CPSC571
3.8
ARDA
3.0
CMP102
2.0
CPSC771
1.0