He is not a professor but a student of UMAss Boston working on his Phd. He is a great instructor and will try his best to get you into Computer Science world.

He is actually a PHD student at UMass Boston and extremely helpful for any problems and really easy going. I would definitely consider taking any of the classes with him.

No Comments

Swami is a great guy. The class was not terribly difficult, but it depends on how solid your java background is. Though he basically teaches from the book, the book itself isn't at all easy, so its worthwhile that he goes over the material. He's pretty dry overall, but in the accelerated class I took there wasn't that much room for anything else.

Best programming class I have taken so far.

Professor Swami is very good at tecahing this course. He make the material simple, easy to understand and interesting. He's alway willing to point you in the right direction and giving help when ask.

Swami is the MAN! Calculus 2 is hard, but he explains it well. He is always willing to help when you are struggling. He is very prompt when responding to students, and always offers review sessions. He is great! I hate math but if I had to take another Calculus class, I would definitely ONLY take it with him!

Astounding professor. Explains everything, and you can learn from the book whatever you miss. Available even at midnight and very understanding of technical difficulties. Even drops your lowest test! Read carefully, think calmly, and you will get an A.

Fantastic professor! Really nice guy, very helpful and always available to answer questions. A lot of students had difficulty on his exams but CS just isn't a very easy subject. Really helpful guy and you'll learn a lot from him. Great guy!

Swami is one of the best professors I have ever had. That sums it up. Easy introductory class here, he taught it well. Assignments were easy enough if you read the book and did research. Excellent professor who is concise, helpful, funny, and respects his students.

CS 210 is a tough class and Swami is an intense guy. About half of your classmates won't be able to handle it and will drop the class. That's their loss. Do whatever it takes to get everything done and learn what you need to learn and you can still get an A. Swami is there to help you and his class will make you a much better programmer.

Best cs prof I've ever had. Easy to talk to, will explain everything for as long as you need. If you ask the right questions. Definitely WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER PROGRAMMER!!! Although he has his own approach to coding, you will learn A LOT from him. Hopefully he'll be teaching more advance courses soon. Really helpful during office hours to.

Good teacher, available online and in person for help. Class is hard but doable. Get started early on your projects and you'll do fine.

UMass Boston is lucky to have this professor. Is his class hard? Yeah, it is. But he is a reason why UMB's CS program is turning out awesome programmers. If you don't do your homework or seek help, don't expect a good grade. Simple as that. Iyer is intelligent, ALWAYS helpful, clear, and understanding. You will learn a lot from him. Take advantage.

Deserves a 5/5. He works hard to make sure you understand the material. The projects and labs will teach you so much. Too bad kids who are too lazy or unmotivated to do their work don't understand that this guy is great.

Swami is definitely a nice guy, but his class is extremely difficult, with projects often going above and beyond the scope of a 100-level class, though the labs aren't too bad. As long as you start early on the assignments, you should be okay. Expect projects to take 12+ hours of work towards the end of the semester.

Excellent class for people that put effort in. Terrible class for those that want an easy A while learning nothing. The projects were quite hard but meaningful and extremely interesting. Tests evolved with feedback from students but if you aren't reading the book, and working diligently on projects you will do poorly.

This class is very hard if you don't have prior knowledge of coding and DECIDE to not get help. I have trouble but I go to office hours and GET HELP 1 on 1. This is one of those classes where you get the grades you deserve, so instead of whining, help yourself... unless you have a victim complex like the rest of this school.

Great teacher great class. Whiners are people that shouldn't be doing CS. Assignments from Princeton course materials. Excellent relevant projects. Finish this course and you are doing great. Avg grade 71.52 which is a C+. It is a rigorous preparation. Want to be a good computer scientist, take his classes. Want to be mediocre? Then don't.

Prof. Iyer is one of the best CS professors on campus. However, the class itself is very difficult because you will be doing Python, which is one of the hardest computer language ever to decipher. But, his teaching is very clear and understandable. If you want an A, you need to work your butt out because this class is very, very hard. Good luck!!!

He is one of the best professors in UMASS Boston!!Glad I took class with him

CS110 should really have a prerequisite but as someone with experience programming in python I found this class to be just fine. The projects can be very difficult at times but I felt like they were rewarding. I understand the subject a lot more now. Swami clearly cares about the students from what I can see.

For those who took his class this year, his class was much easier than before. He not only added 8 points on our tests grade, but also gave us a study guide exactly as the tests. I can see why people found this class hard last year or a year before. He was definitely tough, before but he's getting easier. It's still a hard course, but he is good.

And don't ever say someone is a whiner, if he/she feels like this class is tough. It is tough. But I tell you, if you get through this class, your going to be a pro at coding. Swami is a really good professor.

Really good professor but sometimes you gotta use google to help you get through. By google i don't mean cheat but to just using sites like stackoverflow to answer your programming questions. Also go to his office hours he is super helpful there and will make sure you understand what ever you need help on.

Decent homework but hard projects considering u take him as freshman. Tests test your understanding of material which is different than what you do for hw or project. But he teaches pretty good and if u have questions regarding hw or project (which u will have a LOT), he is pretty easily accessible.

Honestly a great teacher, he is very helpful and you can definitely pass if you use all the resources available to you. It's take a lot of effort but trust me you'll be wishing the rest of your cs courses were like this.

I have zero programming experience and still managed to pass this class with an A.

I had no previous programming experience going into this class. It is doable, but with a LOT of help. Go to discussions, SI's, and start projects and homework early. attend lectures, He is very good at explaining but sometimes goes a little too fast. exams are VERY straightforward compared to HW/Projects. Follow study guide. you will learn a lot

Great professor with clear concise presentations and fair weekly homework and projects. I am completely new to programming, but I found this class fairly straightforward. He tells you exactly what he wants you to do for homework and projects and exactly what will be on the tests. Put in what is expected, you will get an A no question.

Despite all the negative comments I see here, Swami turned out to be a very nice and caring professor. As someone who is completely new to programming, I was worried I was going to fail the class, but it's not as bad as people say it is. If you don't put in the hours to study and understand the material, you will not pass the class.

Really hard class. Gotta start on the time consuming homeworks days before the deadline otherwise you won't be able to finish it in time. He posts his 1-2 hours long lecture videos online so watch them carefully and take notes. Also, don't fall behind. It'll be really hard to catch up.

A lot of homework but he is very responsive to posts on piazza.

Great professor, homeworks and projects are given after certain material is covered so that you'll have a good idea about how to complete them. Exams are not that bad either, the exams consist of multiple choice, some code examples, and written programs on paper. Put in the effort and you'll reap the benefits, like how you should do most classes.

Swami is pretty rigorous when it comes to teaching and makes sure everyone has a strong understanding of python programming before moving on to the next class, which is why he gives challenging assignments. He also extends HW deadlines whenever necessary and allows 1 cheat sheet on the exams (considering how hard CS is).

Swami is the best CS professor at UMB. He's caring, explains well, respectful, and is really fair in terms of deadlines, grading, assignments... If you go to his office hours, he'd stay with you until you understand the material and seems to genuinely love it when students ask questions. Take him--you have to work for your grade, but it's worth it.

Dr. Swami Iyer is a great and polite teacher. He values hard work and his homeworks do reflect that. Make sure you read before coming to class and keep the steam up post Midterm. He has video lectures, but usually a face is easier to grade.

GREAT PROFESSOR! A real man! Curt and polite but hard working and will make you work for your grade but will give you what you earned!

Swami Iyer is a great CS professor teaching a challenging intro course. If you treat this course with respect, attend the lectures, do the homework, you'll ace it. Python is a great starter language, and I went in with no prior programming experience. Swami is an expert and invites class feedback and questions. I learned a lot.

Easy. The projects comes with a checklist that has a skeletal guide on what to do (he uses key words to hint for certain code). He allows cheat sheets on exams and is a VERY forgiving grader. Plus, his study guides and slides are clear in their presentation (He extends due dates too). Don't overthink the content and approach the work methodically.

Extremely good professor, one of the best in the entire department, very quick responses and clarifies anything during lectures. Take the negative reviews below with a grain of salt, if Swami is hard then you should not be attending university, the projects are moderately easy and he is very helpful if you visit during office hours.

I really like Prof. Iyer, his course was challenging in a good way. He is very deliberative about his policies and a good grade requires a good input of effort. Be sure to understand his lectures and always start projects ASAP. For questions, his office hours are available, he seems intimidating, but he is always ready to help. Expect an A if u try

I took both CS110 and CS210 with Swami. I am a psychology student who had never programed in their life before taking CS110. Swami's classes are very challenging but he ensures they are passable if you try hard and stick with it! There is lots of help available if needed! Swami's courses gave me the confidence to continue with CS and minor in it.

His class is hard and his project is time-consuming. You have to spend at least 30 hours on each homework. Start your project once it is posted. But his exams are straightforward. No trick question. The whole semester only works on one compiler project. This can be the first close to industry-level project in your life (About 10000 lines of code)

This was supposed to be an intro class, however it definitely did not feel like that at all. Because of that a lot of students needed help (either by asking a TA or Swami himself) and then helped each other out. There were 6 projects in total and 3 tests (including the final). Just ask for some help before a project is due and you'll be fine.

The class is not easy, and be ready to work. But if you are paying attention to what he says, you won't be in trouble. Yes, there is a lot of material, but after finishing this class you realize that you know a lot. Programming is not so easy and obvious in general, you need to figure out a lot of things on your own.

I'm a CS major and I think this class was a really good start for somebody who wants to learn things. Projects were difficult but extremely useful. The best CS professor in UMass.

He values hard work and will reward you for it, but you REALLY have to earn it.

Swami taught in such a clear way that everything seemed to click. I had to study A LOT, but I kept having "aha!" moments in his lecture, projects and exercises that would have been impossible with any other professor teaching cs110.

Swami is the best CS professor at UMB that I've encountered so far! You really have to work hard, but he taught everything in such a clear manner that it made sense for me as a complete beginner. The best part is he gets back to your questions FAST! Sometimes within minutes. You will definitely thank him later on when you get to other CS classes!

There's a reason I picked this major, and it's because not everyone can do it so it pays well. I came to UMB to learn and I knew it would take a lot of study, so I wasn't mad that this class was challenging.

The class was challenging and as a beginner you need to put a lot of time to learn the basics. Since you are at the bottom of a learning curve, projects will probably take a lot of time. The tests are very straightforward, if you carefully review the slides and actually do your projects without looking up the solutions

Same as CS110, but only done in Java and the topics get a little bit more complex and complement the topics learned in 110. The tests are straightforward and he gives great study guides for them.

The class is complex, so you have to spend a lot of time figuring things out. Make sure you master how to solve different types of problems he shows in class, because they will be on the test. For homework projects, they are straightforward, you just need to get a gist in the beginning, though you will still face a sufficient amount of challenges

Much more difficult than python but the more effort you put in the more likely you will do just fine. Swami goes fast but his class examples are the same as the ones in the textbook. And he posts lecture videos. Hes helpful if you have any questions on exercises, concepts on doing the project and so on.

Easily one of the best CS lecturers at UMB. His class is well structured and put together.

Swami is a great professor. I transferred to UMB from UMA with fear that there would be a drastic decline in quality of professors but I was wrong. Swami pleasantly surprised me. He makes you work for your grade, but lays out very clearly what you need to do to excel. Hes a fair grader on tests, and though he doesnt show it he wants you to excel

Swami is one of the best professors I have ever had. There is a very clear formula to getting an A in this class. Start early on the projects. You will need the extra time. Study the sample exam. That will be the exam. Also make sure to study the excersizes throughout the semester. If you do all of these you will get an A. Make sure to ask question

I feel like a lot of people perceive him as a bit rude but I absolutely appreciated his demeanor in class. I hate when professors waste class time by humoring common sense questions and he would just shut it down but not in a scathing way. He's very open to re-explaining concepts so long as it's not something you clearly could answer yourself.

The professor is really good and his lectures are fantastic. Moreover, he is willing to help students always. Holds so many office hours.

After learning from my failures during spring 2021 (took 110), after the COVID pandemic during the fall semester, this man is less aggressive. The course is really organised, with well-organised projects (even instructions/hints of how to do the projects), as well a well structured slides/presentations and practise exams. It is just really good.

Graded from Projects (That span over 2 weeks, but start them early) and Tests (Multiple Choice and a Coding Section). Fairly easy, I did not spend a lot of time on the classes aside from spending 4-6 hours on projects every two weeks. LEARN TO DEBUG and pseudocode. I finished an exam in 20 mins because I know how to debug.

Great teacher. Fair if you put in the time

Pretty obvious he doesn't want to be teaching. Lectures straight from the slides. Doesn't answer questions very clearly, so be prepared to learn through doing. If you have basic CS knowledge, you'll probably be fine. Use the exam prep he provides, it is very helpful. He is fairly strict on due dates, but not unreasonably so.

Anyone giving Swami a 1-star review for CS110 probably took the course thinking they could ai through the entire thing. This course is a great intro to Python, but it requires a lot of time outside of class to fully understand. Swami offers previous exams to study off of, so you can nearly guarantee yourself at least a B if you study effeciently.

CS110 with Professor Swami requires a lot of effort, but the course material is interesting. Use unstuck AI, past exams, and TA support to succeed. Lectures can be dry, but engagement is key.

ngl if you did bad in this class you're trolling. There is a mind blowing amount of extra credit and free points that the professor gives that it makes it very easy to get a good grade. His tests are also the easiest comp sci tests ive ever taken as his practice tests are near identical to the real tests. Although his class is boring its an easy A.

Good professor, class is graded on 6 assignments (30%) with 2 tests (60%) with a additional 10% of your grade being in class quizzes. You need to come to class to do the in class quizzes and study a lot for the first exam but other than that the class isn't very difficult. I did bad on the first from not studying otherwise I should've gotten a B+-A

Lectures are really good

Sometimes the lectures are bland but it is quite informative (quizzes in lecture). Programming exams are pretty easy as long as you know how to code and not use ChatGPT 24/7. Exams are pretty much identical to practice exams he gives with some changes. Prob the best CS professor for 110 and 210. 6 Assignments 2 Tests (15 Extra credit on tests).

Well organized lectures, easy homework (you're given the outline of the solutions, at minimum), exams are fine if you've been following along, and if not there's ample extra credit to be had. Swami is approachable during office hours, and while he can come across as condescending he is very kind and responds well to genuine interest in learning.

Pretty easy class. Study really hard for exams and use office hours for homework and you'll be fine. I wish there was more use of DSAs outside of homework as the programming exams can be pretty hard without much practice. Exams are out of a total of 115 points, but scaled down to 100 so 15 points of extra credit is possible which is huge.

Swami is knowledgeable and teaches coding well. Lectures can be a bit dull, but in-class quizzes encourage participation. Exams are similar to the helpful study guides, though they require solid prep. There are 6 bi-weekly homeworks and 2 coding exams. Not very windows friendly (Still got by, use Python not Python3 if a windows user and no issues.)

Swami is one of the best and kind professors as long as you pay attention in class. He acknowledges students who are willing to learn from him and those who don't. If you are one of those that pay attention he will be very helpful and resourceful to you. Those that are complaining are students who don't study in class and rely on AI to help them.

So far, I think Swami is the best CS professor at UMB. Here's why: He's very professional, dedicated to giving a good education, and has his own website with all his work on it. He gives practice exams which are extremely helpful in terms of preparing students for the subsequent exams.

he's really smart and passionate about cs, but his lectures can be really dull. however, in class quizzes encourage participation. 70% of your grade is exams, so be ready to study. do not skip the lectures or you won't pass. don't use ai or else you'll fail. ta's are nice and helpful. professor responds well to genuine interest in learning. :)

1) Smart professor, not very friendly (tbf not his job). 2) 6 coding assignments, all spread out 2-3 weeks, and write-ups are light work. 3) You gotta lock in with the exams but everything on his practice exams are EXACTLY the same as the actual exams, with tweaks to specific details like variables ect.