Nice guy, some assignments are complex, but it's not a hard class overall. His teaching style can get a little boring, but he gets all the information across. He does not seem to be a hard grader for most things as many of the other comments have said.

khattab has got a good heart and the knowledge to back it up. The major reason why there are lots of bad ratings is that he is new. However, ask anyone who has taken his class and they will tell you that he always asks for feedback and ALWAYS acts on it and IMPROVES. He is constantly improving and once you get over the accent, its a great class

I have taken three different class with him up to now, cs1502, cs1699, and cs1653. Definitely one of the best processor that I have ever had. His lectures are clear and easy to understand. He is always ready to under your questions. To get a good grade you need to study and read. I don't recommend to rely on the reviews of people here who failed.

He is very passionate about teaching and tries his best to have his students succeed. He is a very fair grader, and his exams were not bad either. My only complaint are the labs which were tedious, also participation is part of the grade. I would still recommend him though.

Very nice dude, while he may be a little bit disorganized he is ultimately a friendly funny guy. Recommend taking him

Khattab is a super nice guy I don't understand why there are so many complains here. Go to his office hour if you have questions he is always there to help (email, piazza...) Project is 90% the same as Misurda's. He may be a little disorganized but you can tell he is trying really hard.

Dr. Khattab really puts in the effort to learn everyone. If you volunteer a few times he will know who you are by the end of the semester. He gave a thorough rundown on projects, is friendly and really wants his students to learn. Study guides were detailed noting 90% of what you needed to know on the exams. If you have a problem, go talk to him!

Good guy but highly disorganized. Often wouldn't respond to emails when he didn't have a clear answer to them. His slides are adapted from another teacher so a lot of key info is missing. He is very caring and can be accessed easily outside of class. His tests are also incredibly fair and throws few curve balls. Solid choice but could improve.

While he can be a little scatterbrained at times, Dr. Khattab is one of the most caring professors I've had at Pitt. He is beyond willing to bend over backwards to make sure that you understand the material. If you aren't available during his office hours, he is even willing to come in during weekends to help you. Highly recommended!

He is really caring professor at Pitt. He is accessible outside class and gives great feedback. Tests are easy, if you pay attention in class. Projects are tough, but he gives more than enough time to complete it, and also demo's it in class. I would love to take him again!!

He's so great

Amazing professor, probably the most down-to-earth and caring in the Pitt CS department. His lectures may not be the best in the department, but his grading policies (e.g. midterm regrades) and lenient deadline extensions makes Sherif the easiest professor to take considering the difficult content of CS1550. Best chance for an A for this course!

Extraordinarily caring professor, very accessible outside of class. Lectures are solid and he always pauses to take student questions. Sometimes there are difficulties with the autograder used for project submission, but he always offers extensions so it's not a big deal. This course has a reputation for being tough, but it's not too bad with him.

Dr. Khattab clearly cares about his students-- he's very willing to help with questions both in class and office hours. Assignments and tests were of reasonable difficulty, and he allows you to do test corrections on the midterm. Get the PDF of the book-- it's detailed and a good supplement to lecture. Good prof and a very solid choice for 1550.

Really great and friendly guy, he made what is usually a hard class for most CS students very easy and the material pretty understandable. He only has 1 final paper for the writing requirement. Exams are fair and curved a lot. Coding assignments are pretty hard though but you get lots of time to work on them and he drops your lowest graded one.

Wonderful professor. One of the few in Pitt's cs department that will go to great lengths to make sure his students understand the content being presented. Material is rough but if you put in the time and effort as well as seek help you will get the grade you want.

Dr Khattab might be one of my favorite CS professors at Pitt. His classes are challenging but you learn A LOT. He is really accessible and his office hours are extremely helpful. He cares about his students like no other (Even brought candy to class to get us to participate). I had him for an intro CS class and ended up switching to be a CS major

One of the nicest teachers I've ever had. Bought the whole class coffee in the middle of our 8 a.m. final because he noticed some students struggling to stay awake. He's not the most interesting lecturer, but he makes up for it in his friendliness and accessibility during office hours. I'd definitely recommend him as a professor for 1550.

Professor Khattab is an extremely caring individual. I had him for 445 and 1550 and can say that he is passionate about teaching. He seems very receptive to feedback and is constantly looking to improve. I would recommend taking his classes.

Professor Khattab is probably one of the nicest CS professors at Pitt, as others have said he makes one of the most challenging courses for CS students a fun and fair experience without watering down the difficulty too much. If you put some effort in the class your efforts will be successful. His slides are somewhat light, so go to lecture!

Sherif made it pretty difficult to not do well in this class. He added 15-20 bonus points to the midterm and final, and accepted "redos" on the midterm to gain partial credit back. The projects were TOUGH, but the added credit on the other portions of the grade allowed me to still do decently overall.

Sherif is a great lecturer and is a very fair grader. The material in the class is very difficult, but Sherif was able to present it in an understandable way. Assignments were difficult, but doable. Start early and get help as soon as you need it. He is extremely accommodating and understanding, so if you need it, he is happy to help

Dr. Khattab is my favorite professor in the CS department. I took him for both 1501 and 1550. He truly cares about every student in his class and will go out of his way to make sure you get the help you need. Lectures are very good. Projects are very challenging but fair and will enhance your understanding of the material.

He tried to make the best out of a crappy course. He also was very caring once COVID hit. Finally, even though his lectures and policies weren't always the best, he tried to fix problems that arose.

A very understanding guy who tries his best to give engaging lectures for an "unimportant" class (Big Ideas) to a mostly (and understandably) indifferent group of students. Yes, he gives assignments that can be very time-consuming, but they're all right if you don't procrastinate. Just put in the work, don't skip classes and you'll get your A.

Dr Khattab is one of the best professors at Pitt. He cares about his students and their success more than any other. He gave us many significant extra credit opportunities that completely saved my grade. I purposely reworked my entire schedule to take him for 1550 after finishing his 1501 class.

Dr. Khattab made the hardest core CS class very manageable and set his students up to succeed. He is incredibly dedicated to helping his students and handled the switch to online classes best out of any of my professors. He's the only professor I've had that takes the time to learn every one of his student's names and gave candy for participating.

Dr. Khattab is a great choice for any CS class you can find with him. He doesn't treat you as a mere student but rather attempts to establish a good rapport with you. Ask him any question  he will take the time to answer it. Go to his office hours  he won't let you go until you get the help you need. Nicest and kindest professor I have ever had.

I've tutored many students for 1501, and I noticed that all the professors essentially assign the same projects. However, Professor Khattab offers the most extra credit on tests, labs, and projects compared with the rest. With Khattab, you can cover the same amount of material as other professors, and walk away with a better grade.

I took this class during COVID19, so it was totally online. It likely won't be comparable in that sense with how you take the class, but the content itself is the same. Professor Khattab has a personal interest in computer networking, so his enthusiasm helps make learning a fundamental topic like computer networking more interesting.

Professor Khattab is great, but not for this class. This class is very difficult and Khattab does a good job making resources available including himself. He gives a lot of opportunities for success, dropping low assignments (5 that make up 40% of class) and extra credit. While passing is easy, the concepts might not be as reinforced as you wish.

The class itself isn't perfect - there's quite a lot of redundant or downright annoying homework assignments to get done, but in the middle of this pandemic Dr. Khattab was very open to compromise and makes sure if you do the work, you WILL pass what is otherwise thought of as one of the toughest courses in CS.

Dr. Khattab is the best CS professor I have ever had at Pitt. He genuinely cares that his students succeed and does everything he can to help students when they struggle. The exams were a bit unclear and difficult but he provides every resource needed to succeed in the class.

Dr. Khattab is a genuinely nice person who cares about his students' health and well-being. He consistently offered extensions to the whole class to ensure we were all taking care of ourselves. Try your best to complete the labs, homeworks, and assignments because doing well on these means your exam grades won't greatly impact your overall grade.

Super smart & caring guy. 1550 is by far the hardest core CS class, but Khattab makes it bearable. The material is still difficult and some of the projects will inevitably have you tearing your hair out, but Khattab gives enough extra credit and easy homework assignments to make sure that you'll get a decent grade as long as you put in the effort.

Khattab is the most caring professor I've had at Pitt. His assignments are very reasonable and you should have plenty of time to finish them. The only thing I would change is that sometimes the way he covers topics in lecture is unclear, and can get confusing. I had him for 1501 and 1550, would absolutely take him again.

1550 was incredibly hard, but Khattab cares about his students so much that he makes it bearable, I'm almost sure I would've failed without all the extra credit and extensions he offered. If you're taking 1550 make sure to take it with Khattab no matter how much you have to rearrange your schedule.

As long as you pay attention, ask questions, stay mostly on top of things, you'll enjoy 1501 and 1550 with Khattab. As with any upper level CS class, start assignments early.

Khattab makes it hard for you to fail this course. Putting in decent effort into the homework, getting average exam grades, and doing the objectively short labs means you won't have to excel at all of the coding assignments. He also drops some grades, including one assignment, two labs, and two homeworks, which makes a big difference.

The best CS professor I've had at Pitt. It was a tough class but he explains topics well and is super nice. One problem I had was him and the TA's not being accessible outside of class, especially on Piazza. Would never respond or give small responses :( 40% ProgramAssign 20% HW 10% Lab 10% LectureQuiz Two Exams 12% MaxExamScore 8% MinExamScore

Genuinely one of the nicest people in the CS department. He really cares about his students and although he gives quite a lot of assignments, it really helps you understand the material and makes it so that the course isn't reliant on only a few grades.

Drawbacks: Lecture style can be confusing, hard to reach through email or Piazza, got really behind with releasing assignments on time this semester, takes attendance through tophat during lecture Pros: Extremely kind and caring, gave us an insane amount of bonus opportunities at end of semester, records lectures, listens to students' feedback

Khattab is a super nice guy. 1501 can be very overwhelming because of how many different algorithms it covers. But he's great at going over examples and in-depth descriptions of each. Extra Credit was offered. He starts the semester out with a lot of assignments, but he tends to fall behind so a lot of those get canceled/ made optional. hard tests.

Probably the kindest CS professor at Pitt as others have said, but it's easy to take away nothing from this class. The exams were very tough but don't count for much of your grade. Lectures were rather disorganized, as was the class in general. Towards the end of the semester everything fell apart, and even the TAs were lost.

He definitely cares about his students' success and even gave me extra time on the final exam. The lectures were generally alright but sometimes they could be a tad disorganized. Towards the end of the semester he started to run behind so a lot of assignments were pushed back basically as far as they could be, and some were even made extra credit.

445 is a hard class with a lot of work so be prepared but professor Khattab is the person you want to take it with. He gives enough work to challenge you, but his number one priority is his students succeeding. If you spend a decent amount of time studying and stay on top of the weekly labs and homeworks you'll be fine. Very reachable and friendly.

Khattab is very caring and tried his best to set his students up for success in his class and in the future. However, he doesn't like using emails, opting to use Piazza instead, making it very difficult to get in touch with him. Furthermore, he was very disorganized, leading to us being behind on content all semester and rushing through the end.

Sometimes I wondered if Khattab was too fair to the class, but In the end, he just prioritized our mental health. He gave us an abundance of extra credit and dropped assignments. He is one of the kindest professors at Pitt, and if you can talk to him one on one please do so, and you'll see why! It's not an easy A, but definitely doable for anyone!

Prof. Khattab genuinely wants his students to succeed and always willing to help. The largest portion of the grade is projects, which you definitely want to start early. There are also weekly labs that are mostly easy. He gave us a lot of bonus opportunities at the end of the term and a project + a couple homework assignments and labs are dropped.

Khattab is a great professor for 1501. He is very generous with his bonus points and explains some of the hardest algorithms you'll learn at Pitt very clearly.

For an algorithms class he made the class very doable and the material flowed into one another very nicely. First assignment was really hard, but after that everything was fairly easy and he makes sure to not weigh exams to heavy. Lectures are kinda boring, which is why I give a 4, but if you can get through those, he's an awesome professor.

great professor. He is accessible outside class. His teaching is rewarding for job interviews. I felt confident in myself completing his class. The other professor is challenging his students more, however imo it's also important to not stress yourself. lots of extra credit opportunities. midterm regrade. nice learning journey.

1501 is one of the hardest CS classes, but Khattab is the best choice, and also the easiest. His tests are definitely harder than Farnan's but his projects are much easier and he provides test cases. Also provides extra credit and candy for answering questions. He doesn't respond to emails or Piazza, but very helpful after class/in office hours.

Very approachable professor, but them tests are tough. If he didn't give so many opportunities for points across the class, it'd be brutal. Make sure to review the material and start projects early, you will not want to get caught lacking like I was. He will throw you candy for lecture participation so practice your hand-eye coordination!

Khattab is awesome. His lectures are a little boring, but if you miss some lectures its not a big deal because it is recorded. You will put in work on the projects, and the exams are kind of difficult, but he gives so much extra credit that it is hard not to get an A.

Best 1501 professor by far. I was so nervous for this class but it ended up going really smoothly. If you put in the effort to stay on top of getting assignments done and labs/homeworks on time. Then also don't completely bomb the midterms (i got around 70 on both exams) YOU WILL get a 99%. He's also a fun guy, I thought he was very nice.

I've taken both Farnan and Khattab for 1501. Khattab is easier, but Farnan is better at lecturing and making sure you understand how the algorithms work. Projects are more handholdy, and take 6-10 hours instead of 15-20. XC, Tophat, and attendance really pads your grade too. Take Farnan if you really enjoy CS. Take Khattab if you want the grade.

Khattab really cares. he was new to 447 so this semester is not very organized. We got a chance to get points back for mid-term. Tests are fair; projects are hard because they are assigned late and guidelines are vague. The annoying thing about labs is that the autograder doesn't get assigned and when they get posted you just get a grade

Definitely recommend Khattab, contrary to public opinion I think his lectures are great! He also gives SO much extra credit and candy for answering questions. Its clear he wants you to do well. Assignments aren't too bad, but exams are quite difficult and lengthy (but he does test corrections) and he is not accessible outside of class at ALL.

Khattab is a great professor. He teaches you so much and explain everything thoroughly. If you show up to class, and do your work you will be fine. There are bi weekly labs and weekly homeworks and projects sprinkled in but it is manageable. If you are a student dreading os, like I was, you will be pleasantly surprised taking this course with him.

Great lecturer and gives lots of time for questions. Labs and projects can be hand-holdy, but exams are difficult. Gives LOTS of extra credit. Very disorganized, especially this semester (tried to AI-proof assignments, resulting in 2/4 projects being released (still gave ample time to complete)). Course was still a lot of work, but doable.

Barely paid attention the entire semester and did great. Records all lectures, provides extra help if needed. Only had 2/4 assignments, so was not spending a lot of time on this class. Midterm and final were STRESSFUL bc i wasnt locked in like that, but he gave lots of resources - very similar to practice. Extra credit carried - assignments doable

Really nice guy but those exams were insanely hard - probably still the best option for 1501 though

Khattab is interesting to say the least. We didn't receive our first assignment until way after the first midterm, and had to squeeze the second assignment in during finals week. Also hard to get hold of. Tests are also unnecesarily hard However, he cares about your learning and encourages participation. Besides tests, easy grader, EASY labs.

Khattab is disorganized, but he is a great lecturer, answers even the dumbest questions and gives you candy for participation. Labs and projects were easy, hws were annoying, but also easy. Exams required a lot of prep, bur he gives so many resources that they were more than doable.

Khattab is super sweet. He knows his stuff and loves to talk with students. Do your work and don't cheat!!

It's very difficult to rate this prof. The assignments were catastrophic and way over-the-top with bad support, and his teaching was mediocre. That being said, he is very accommodating to people struggling with mental health. He let me take one test after it already happened with no prior warning, and uploads every lecture and slide.

Autograder for coding assignments didn't open until the day it was due, so that we can test our program on our own. He gives a lot of extra credits towards the end of the semester. The actual exams are very similar to the practice exams. The assignments can be challenging, but he is a nice professor overall.

It is a high effort class no matter who you take. Slides and lectures aren't intuitive, but ask questions and rewatch recordings, which are all uploaded. There are two exams which are quite difficult, so I recommend studying early and consistently. He is quite generous with extra credit which makes up for how challenging the content is.