2.4
Quality3.9
Difficulty32%
Would Retake145
Reviews32%
Would Retake
145
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
21
4
28
3
12
2
23
1
61
What Students Say
“Teaching from 20+ year old notes, Repetitive, Redundant”
CS220 - 1.0 rating“I took 316 Principle of Programming Language with professor Kong”
CSCI316 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
49%
Textbook Required
27%
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B
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IFORGET
5.0
(1)CMP220
4.0
(1)CSC220
4.0
(1)220
3.8
(5)CS316
2.9
(41)Difficulty by Course
CSE220
5.0
316
4.6
316CS
4.6
CS313
4.5
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4.0
Reviews (145)
Teaches so fast, one would get the impression he needs to go to the bathroom. Not clear at all. Doesn't look at his watch, either.
very easy tests bit of a strict grader though, if you read the book and do the homeworks though you will get an A. A little hard to undersdtand at first.but will eagerly answer all your questions during office hours.
He tests more practicle questions rather than just definitions. He writes everything on the board and well prepared for his class. He is quick because he has a lot to teach in 316. He is a phd graduated from Oxford University. Doing his homework will lead u to an A.
He teaches so fast...and he has a lot of material..his HW could be overloading sometimes and his project is complicated..if you dont understand what he does at the beggining, you are practically screwed...I would consider taking someone else.
Put the road runner and C3PO together and what do you get? ans:prof. Kong! He's one of QC's best professors.When you take his class you better be prepared to hit the ground running.His tests are definitely not dull.They're a bit on the tricky side but not impossible(if you do the hw-but really now how many people actually do the hw?)
there's a reason why yukawa's classes are over-full
This is not one of my favorite subjects; however, Prof. Kong help me get through. If you do the homeworks and come to class every day, you will get a good grade. The class is not easy, but makes it appealing. Very good instructor in my opinion. He is clear, neat and always on time to class. Very good qualities as an instructor
I have long since graduated (96) - Dr. Kong writes neat and organized notes on the board, which helps in studying. I had no problem understanding anything at all. Passed easily, and learned something as well.
KING KONG is my worst nightmare!
Dont be mistaken in the beginning and think that he is easy. When the semester keeps going you will end up wanting to kill your self. Very hard tests (asks for every single detail), projects small percentage. Code oriented
He is very methodical. Writes a lot on the board, but exams are from those notes and the HW. If you pay attention to what he has to say, and take clear notes, you can pass easily. Absolutely recommended. Great professor.
Wow! He makes it seem so easy but then , BAM! crazy tests that have the most ridiculus scoring. They're out of 25 and the final is out of 50 and then he divides and subtracts and takes the standard deviation etc... so you don't even know how you're doing!
To be honest, It is really painful to sit in his class. His teaching is boring cause he keeps writing everything on the black board and explain just a little. Not that inspire anyway. His test is easy if you study notes and practice the problems that he assigned. I don't like him but he is okay to take course with.
Interesting class, plan on taking plenty of notes. You can use notes on the test, so do the homework and get a good grade.
Even it seems the class is easy that you can take "a note cheat sheet" on exam. However, he never curve the class. Many of my classmate failed.
Get the good grade.1)you need to look forward the book before his class.2)listen carefully and take good notes.3)understand everything he said in class, do not hope to catch up later.Test based on.1)HW 2)note 3)Eventhough he changes the exam every semester,the previous test exam from other students which will still help you to look at the format of
Half of the semester is about Lisp, and another half is about mini Java project relate to compiler...good teacher..you need to understand everything in his class, otherwise you may have trouble on test.He wants students fully understand,so you need to do test carefully.
Tip for A or A+. If you want to save your time for studying 316, you need to get as much homework solutions, first mid-term exam, and all the Projects from who took it and study, memorize and practice over and over before exam. Then you will have good A.
If ur not a smart guy like these then plz stay away from this class , I took him twice but still end up with a D+ . He might be a smart guy but not good prof!!!!
Do not understand how QC can allow a "teacher" like this in this school. Its pretty much a writing class. He will write the book on the board, as much as he can in the 75 minutes of class. Does not answer questions and does not go over homework. Shame on this school for allowing this chalkboard teacher in this school.
If there is another teacher, get it!! Take this class if you do not mind learning the material yourself. There is no teaching from this teacher.
Thankfully I Passed this class, but a very miserable experience. I would not recommend this teacher to any student who actually wants to learn and do well. The class is copying notes from the board and taking tricky tests. 2 Tests and one Final.
I second that.Unfortunately I failed this class,but the most miserable experience I had in QC.I would not recommend this teacher to ANYONE for any reason.Questions are frowned upon and If you want to go over homework, it has to be at office hours. Class time is writing the notes on the board.
I can honestly say that RateMyProfessor IS reliable. I should have never taken this professor. He is brilliant in what he does, but should defnitely not teach. STAY FAR AWAY. Listen to what these posts say. TAKE ANOTHER TEACHER!!!
Don't take this professor he don't know how to teach, Not recommend to any student who wants to learn and do well. The class is a 75 min of copying from the board ,He will write all the book on the board in the 75 minutes .Does not answer questions and does not go over homework. Shame on this school,STAY FAR AWAY TAKE ANOTHER TEACHER
His 316 class is not bad at all. Made all handouts available online, and he tells you exactly what topics are covered on exams. He gives ample practice problems with answers, and his projects are a great way of learning concepts. I often could not make it to class due to other projects but was glad he laid the framework to learn by myself.
Horrible. This guy put the midterm on the last day of the semester and 5 days before the actual class final. Who does that. Screwed me over. Don't take him.
His projects are hard and you can't use net bins or eclipse. And you ahve to submit the projects in some stupid uclid machine which actually takes no joke more than doing the actual project. I took him because I had to and I had no other option and I am regretting that decision. Anyhow don't take him. Even if you have no other options left.
What a terrible professor? I actually liked JAVA before I took this guy. Will not help you at all. Whole class he write on he board flapping his gums about the same things over and over again so eventually you loose interest. Don't take him!!
This man should get fired. He has no business in a class room.
It amazes me how students want to slip past any class by doing nothing! This is a challenging one, but definitely useful and interesting (warning for lazy ones - a lot of work). 1st half of the semester is LISP (that is a good thing to get familiar with), 2nd - compiler = crucial to understand. Instructions are always provided in great detail.
He is a very nice guy. Sometimes it is hard to see what he is explaning in the class. To understand him you must pay attendtion! He doesn't go over homework in class but if you ask him; he is always ready. I think, instead of writing in the class he should pay attention to explain things. Overall, interesting class:)
Took him for 220, Discrete Structures. The lecture is the biggest problem, he will write on the board for the entire class with almost no interaction with the class. He also moves at a pretty slow pace and beats a subject to death before moving on. Teaches directly from the textbook.
Kong explains everything in terms of formulas. That being said if you don't understand something just ask and he will explain it in lay man's terms. He writes half the textbook on the board, and will often explain the same thing 4 different ways but it pays to take good notes. 1 page of notes allowed per exam. 4-COLORED PEN RECOMMENDED!!!!!
Okay so I took him for 316 and he was very clear in the way he spoke but the tests count for majority of your grade. The tests were not hard if you studied but the final was really difficult in my opinion, and I was shocked by the grade I received, given my amount of effort.
Hardest CS class I've taken in QC. A lot of the material he covers is not in any book so good luck if you miss class or don't understand what he says. It's very easy to screw up badly and not pass. It's best to avoid.
Kong honestly wasn't that bad (for 220). His lectures will give your hand cramps and put you to sleep but just suck it up and copy the notes as it does help. Exams are more than fair. He lets you pick 5 out 7 questions to do! That means you just need to study certain sections. just all the hw problems. He even lets you have a cheat sheet.
He is fine! He is very specific in the stuff that he explains. His tests are quite easy if you did all assigned by him homework. Also kind of annoying that only 2 exams and final. Not much room for any mistakes. He re-writes the book on the blackboard and his classes are generally boring that many people fall asleep. But this class is not hard.
I learned a lot from Professor Kong's class, he is very efficient in teaching. Discrete Structures has a lot of interesting topics such as the graph theory. Professor Kong was able to clear up a lot of confusions for me. Moreover, his exams are pretty straight forward, no tricky questions at all. Overall, this is an important, yet easy class.
The material for his class is not hard. You can self learn. He assigns 3 assignments which you have to self teach and these three sections of the textbook, in my opinion, is the hardest compared to others. He explains one subject multiple times & he writes notes the entire class. No interaction with students.
Do not take his class unless you are good with not understanding material in the class. If you ask questions he will make a fog around you and you will be lost totally. He is not inspirational at all. If you go to him with your problem he will tell you to drop his class. He doesn't love to teach at all and he doesn't understand what he's teaching!
He doesn't know what he's teaching,and if you ask questions then he will dislike you. If you tell him you didn't understand the material,he will tell you to drop his class and make you feel CS is not for you! He shouldn't teach!He suppose to encourage students,while he discourages. He thinks only the week students take Whitehead. DO NOT take him!
Don't take him,he is crazy! He will leave 3 whole chapters for you to read and understand by yourself and do the whole bunches of homeworkers
I took a history class along his CS220. At the end of the semester, i realized that i took much more notes in CS220 than my history class. But, honestly, he is very nice professor. He explains everything very clearly but sadly, students get bored because of the his style of teaching. Do his assigned homework and clarify doubts ASAP. You'll get an A
Do not take a class with this professor!!!! All he does is rewrite the textbook on the whiteboard. He explains the material poorly and his exams are insanely specific. You need to know everything like the back of your hand.
This professor can give really dry boring lectures. But if you want a good grade, DO ALL THE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS. If you can do most of the problems you should get a pretty good grade.
I barely attended his class. The material is pretty easy, just make sure you do each and every homework problem and understand it. Ask him for any clarifications. That's all it takes to get an A in his class.
Good Professor. You will take a lot of notes during the class, but exams aren't hard, just base on the HW (85%) and Reading Material(15%). Very Nice and knowledgeful.
The material is very clear that make you do your project assignments and exam review easy.
Teaching from 20+ year old notes, Repetitive, Redundant. You will spend the entire class time writing. There is no interaction/ q&a / discussion. You just write. Redundantly. No meaningful explanation of ideas / concepts. Did I mention you just write? Your hands will cramp up.
He can explain really well, get ready for exams with zero pretext and hard but somewhat related to homeworks, hard on grades, sometimes curves at the end.
The thing about Kong is that he makes you work for your grade. All his exams are basically straight forward IF YOU STUDY. My advice about taking this course, make sure to review your notes everyday so you keep up with the topics discussed in class. Do not cram and study for exams last minute or you will feel overwhelmed.
what to say.. I am about to graduate and this is the hardest class I have ever taken. Make sure you do all homework assignments by yourself before every exams. He covers hell lot of materials. This is real. You do not expect for last day study for this class.
A very hard class. When assigns homeworks make sure you do them right away so any questions you have you can discuss with him during his office hours. He will help you with the homeworks if you're struggling. Once you understand the homeworks, exams will be easier. Just don't think you can study last minute for exams. You will fail.
Skip class and just read the textbook and do the homework. The class covers about a chapter worth of material. The exam questions are not tricky whatsoever as long as u can do majority of the homeworks.
This it the trick to pass this guy. Do all his homework assignments. Do not go to his office hours for help, it's useless and he will probably discourage you. THe 3 reading assignments that he has for the final are extremely difficult, do not depend on those. Just do the hw and his tests will be easy As. Tests are fair for students who study.
Skipped class, but did the homework and got an A. Exams are homework questions with some things changed, and you get a cheat sheet. Use 7px font and make notes on how to do each problem and the name of all the theorems. Attainable A with a little effort. Also says exactly how many problems from each section is on the exam. Lets you choose 5/7 total
I absolutely love this professor. I dont know why he has a low score. His lectures are heavy writing but if you go to class and do the homework the tests are easy. You choose 5 out of 7 questions or so for the test so if you dont know one your good. 100% would recommend him. Straight to the point professor love him. A little work but its college
He's a nice guy and extremely intelligent, but not a great professor. He lacks passion and enthusiasm and there is zero interaction with the class as his back is turned the majority of the time while he writes on the board. The curriculum is outdated and you won't learn anything of much use or relevance.
He is a bit of a detached professor, but I've honestly never had what was expected of me laid out so clearly. He tells you exactly which sections to look at and know and all the relevant problems that were assigned. No real surprises. You go to the exams and pick 5 out of 7 questions and are even allowed a cheat cheat of your own making.
He is extremely organized, you know what is expected from you at all points during the semester. If you put in effort to do the HW and study for the test, its hard not to do well. However, it was one of the most boring classes i've ever had to sit through. Like, Painfully boring. For real.
Professor Kong is a good professor. Going to class is not mandatory. In order to do well, make sure you understand all the assignments. Do not cram for this class. You should study at least 2 weeks in advance before an exam. The material is somewhat difficult, but doable because Kong provides many examples and solutions. Make sure to practice often
problem with him is he keeps writing on the board and talking continuously. sometimes feels boring. tough grader. care about giving away 0.1 mark. lots of homeworks, but he dont collect them. you will find the tests are somewhat similar to the homeworks if you do so. dont think test will be easier though. he knows his stuff.
His class would be a breeze if you do every single assignment, yes ever single question. I think i might get an A. Though beware that the final exam could be a little intense and you have to be very meticulous so you dont make mistakes. Boring class but very helpful and clear professor. If you're determined/ not lazy you should be fine.
He makes the material extremely boring and tedious to learn. He just writes and writes on the white board and barely interacts with the class. Doing the homework helps but not that much.
BORING lectures. Very rigid in how he teaches the class and his explanations. When asked to explain it differently, he goes in circles repeating the same thing. Get ready to write novels for class notes. Only plus is that he's extremely clear on how your grade is determined and gives a lot of materials to help pass the class.
Didn't liked his lectures. Hardly went to the class. I only read the book and online materials. Solved the sample questions and did his assignments. which makes you ready for the exam. Exams are easy if you do the assignments.
His class isn't very difficult. His emails are so long and boring. He sends you so many. You give up on reading. God forbid if you have a question and you have to look through his emails to get the answer to your question. Would take again though because he is easy. It would just be really dreadful.
this guy is boring and he shouldnt be allowed to teach. also his british accent gets annoying the more he says words like 'cdr' and 'java' and stuff like that
You're given everything that is expected. When he sais no surprises, there are literally no surprises. You have to be EXTREMELY lazy to not do well in this class. If you want to do good, you will do good.
nice guy, talks while staring at ceiling. Npc, ironic lisp, useless obsolet material
Very tough professor. Expects you to study a lot, as should be. Do everything he assigns you in order to pass. He's been making his exams more and more difficult every year. Clear lectures.
Professor Kong is straightforward in what to prepare for in an exam. I am honestly getting by with a C to B grade. You have to read the textbook if you really want to understand the work, which he does say throughout the semester. Do every homework problem assign, read over main theories etc. Lectures are BORING, sometimes feeling ENDLESS.
This guy gets a bad rep. Lisp isn't obsolete in the same way math isn't. It is meant to teach you a way of thinking, known as functional programming. Sure, he could've gone with Haskell, but these two languages just have a different approach. This class gives you an understanding of how programming languages are implemented. has an INSANE CURVE.
I took 316 Principle of Programming Language with professor Kong. His study material is very specific and useful for both projects and exams. Lisp Assignments 1 through 4 were easy, 5 was a little bit difficult but doable. TinyJ Assignment seems hard but the professor gave many tips.
It's so easy to pass with a good grade because he's so clear on what you're expected to do. His lectures aren't the most engaging but his notes do a great job at explaining the material. His exams are extremely predictable in a good way. The type of questions he asks in the homework and assignments are exactly what's going to be on the exam.
Hard to say anything about him. this class should be one of the easiest course of CS but due to his unwanted and too much tasks, he made it hard. really disappointed as i wasted whole semester taking him. He must retire now as he is too old to explain and understand a student curriculum. Mr Kong dont ruin a students academic life.
lectures are definitely long and seeming like never ending but his explanations are detailed. he gives lots of HW but thats bc it really helps in exams. he gives the topics for the exams and emails us almost every week on more material to study. we have cheat sheets in exams too so even if you lazy af, you can still pass. do as he says and you pass
I learned a lot in this class! I learn best from lecture notes and assignments and this professor puts 100% into his material. Explanations are thorough, albeit long. Assignments test your understanding of the material. He tells you exactly what's on the test, what parts to read and practice questions. Assignments are just hard enough to be fun.
90% of the grade is base on exams. This guy is also an automaton, even his syllabus is written like a textbook math problem. He's def very smart but has no idea how to teach. Goes out of his way to trick you on exams. Slightly paranoid about cheating. He obv does research so just let him do that and get an actual prof to teach the course
Waste of time to learn functional programming through LISP. Way more people will have a better time using a language they are already comfortable with, and in most cases that is Javascript, C++, C#. But in this 316 class you are expected to learn a usesless language with its ugly syntax and functional programming on the side.
No doubt hes a nice guy but sometimes hes too smart for his own good. He tends to over-explain certain things and ends up just confusing a lot of the class. When he starts spitting his math jargon youll just be completely lost. His PowerPoints are very good though if you want to survive his class lean on those, the textbook, and the homeworks.
not recommended to take him. A machine type person and always paranoid about cheating. lectures are useless and heavy for no reason. he should be removed from queens college, let him go to Oxford where he came from. T Kong is too old school with his lecture and explanation.
Great guy, gives good material for the class. Class is pointless to me though, especially learning LISP..
Unfortunately this class is useless and the material learned will never be used ever again. Kong is the only good choice when taking 316. Tends to overexplain things which will make things more confusing so it is best to read his lecture notes that he posts. Requires cameras to be on during exams but exams are rather straightforward.
I took 316 with him and I really regret it. The whole semester I had only one grade for the first test. The second grade found out last week, it was my final grade for the course. To pass his tests you need to learn how to solve exercises he gives for self-studying. Projects are hard and just 10 percent. You need to do well on tests to pass.
This guy talks rubbish, anytime, anywhere! Each class has over 100 pages ppt but with meaningful information merely 10 pages! He tried to hide useful information in tons of garbage! Request answer in C-Lisp but give question in Scheme! Spend over 10 min each class just to read the email he sent last night! Totally useless!
Kong has an english accent,ThisClass is not hard,Watched the lectures, onlyStudied day prior to each exam My studying was doing hw(30% of problems),Grading policy testScore*100/90(Easier), A+97,A90,A-87,B 80, B 77, C+ 73, C 69. -Math120 is harder -finalOpenBook answered 2parts w/o studying,GradeIsFrom 8of12 parts -i've got a poor memory,it wasEZ
Complete waste of time and energy. This class and stuff you learn in this class has no use in real life. And this guy just makes it worse. Keeps talking and talking without making any sense.
He overexplains things a lot which can be confusing. However, he also gives very detailed notes and instructions which make it easier to study and do the projects. His classes are also test heavy they counted for 90% of the final grade. You get to learn a lot of interesting and fun stuff in the course.
His instructions are overly annoying, and he still uses Venus to submit code that could be submitted via blackboard tbh. His tests were super easy because they were straight from the lectures/homeworks/projects. If you can keep up with the boring lectures, annoying voice, and bad instructions then this class should be an easy B or better.
For 2/3 part of the sem you learn an outdated language called LISP and do few assignments that barely count for anything. That's Exam 1. Then a much harder Grammar & TinyJ is crammed into the remainder of the sem. That's Exam 2. Exam 2 and Final are 2 days apart. Why he does that, nobody knows. You can't evaluate yourself until the final grade.
He would be a 5 but his exam 2 n Final were 2 days apart. His material is very dense and you will need to look it over and implement yourself at home to make sure it sticks. Get his workbook because it will come in handy during exam 1 n 2. Study a few days before the exams and you will do great. He wont hold your hand but he does see your hard work
Complicates the process a lot for no reason at all. Do not take this guy.
The professor is good, the lecture itself is boring. Lisp is a powerful programming language, It is not as cumbersome as java and C++, and you can do anything you want. However, this language doesn't have a good community like other languages. I would say if he uses Javascript, Scala, or python to explain functional programming, it will be better.
He makes everything complicated. His lectures are annoying and boring af; he has 100+ slides w/ probably only 10 slides that are actually useful and he lectures like a highschooler presenting with a powerpoint (0 interaction). I've been through 10+ of his lectures and the only question he ever asks the class is "did everyone get this email?"...
the material is boring but i respect how much time and effort hes put into trying to make sure everything is as understandable as possible the slides are long bc theyre very detailed for your benefit he can be repetitive which is why i think some find him confusing personally, if i dont do well ik it was on me bc he explains everything thoroughly
Honestly I wouldnt really complain much, he was nice but sometimes he overcomplicated things. Often his assignments are written out like essays but he gives clear instructions on what to do and what he expects. I didn't really like how everything was graded at the end so I didn't know how I was doing besides my exam 1 grade. Overall, he's good.
15+ topics crammed in 2 tests + cmltv final. 6 projs=10%. ~0 resources for projs, use github. Monotonous lecs, 100+ slides/lec, only 10 useful. Claims reader helps in exams but only had 1Q for 2-3 pts/exam from it. Purposely written badly so you cant use it easily. Waste 30 $. Nice to students but calls out bad habits. Dad? Better than Svitak maybe
Nice overall but as a prof he just OK. Overwhelms u with material and readings. Boring lecs ~10 good slides amongst 100+. Course reader=waste $, intentionally poorly written, useless in tests~1 or 2 Q's use it=few pts. Tests copy from assgnmts so do 'em and memorize. Projects 10%, hard, no online help so github. I'd pick him over Svitak anyday tho.
Crazy that he's the best option for 316. Super slow&boring lec's. Feels like 3 hrs. While he techn. explains all hws/exams/etc, its done via way too many super long overly-complex emails. Assignments force you to learn material yourself. Final has material never taught and is a week after prev exam with little material overlap. Very negative exp.
Professor Kong has tons of notes that you have to read. And he gives like 3 or 4 exams. Many homeworks. But I don't complain about the study I have to do, Professor gives exam review sheet that are similar to actual exams and if you send him email asking questions, he always answers in detail. I like him overall. But yes you have to put hard work.
It's been a while since i've taken a class that really tests your understanding of concepts presented in the course. Dr.Kong is a very meticulous professor, shown in the thousands of pages of slides that he's put together (not exaggerating). You will have to put in the work in order to succeed but he does all that he can in a course like this.
If you enjoy brain damage and mind-numbing lectures, Kong's your guy. Otherwise take anybody other than him. Wait a semester if you have to in order to avoid this menace to society. His syllabus, slides and Elizabeth-ian English accent can take a walk. He DOES knows his material inside and out--just not someone who makes learning at all pleasurable
Insanely boring lectures. Assigns most material for you to learn at home while he rambles at the front for 75 minutes. Follows up with 1000+ word emails 1 - 2 times per week. Over complicates the course material to an unbelievable level. Roughly 50 to 60% of the final exam (40% of grade) contains material never taught. Very little resources to help
requires you to program in lisp which is older than windows 98, on top of that his lecture is very boring and he is a very tough grader. Not very good but surprising he is the only option besides svitak
This guy, I don't even know where to begin. Most of the material he assigns you is incredibly tedious, as he will force you to submit assignments on Euclid. His emails and instructions are always long so you'd be spending a long time scanning them for important details. Unfortunately he is the best option for this class so good luck.
His slides are very descriptive. so you don't really have to go to class. its easy to pass if you study the slides and make a good cheatsheet from the hw questions. and if you are confused just email him he will explain nicely.
Professor is rigorous and energetic and very slide he made is well prepared and gave extra materials for difference levels of interest of the subject he teaches. However the content may be too overwhelming some times and email is lengthy
Very tough guy to understand his lectures are not very clear to hear due to his accent. His programming exercises are not a problem but due to the fact that it is lisp instead of a modern programming language is a disgrace. Who would use lisp for a modern-day job in the industry and for what He grades ok but he gives second exam a week before final
This was one of the best classes in the CS degree at Queens College. He tells you exactly what you need to study in order to pass. The 2 midterms were easier than the final. He says he doesn't curve but he definitely curved a bit when it was all said and done. Do all the work, show up to class, and you will get a good grade.
He's literally Tao or Svitak with a British accent. The material he teaches is borderline useless as he makes students work on with outdated programs. He's not even aware of what's going on. Seriously, this is the guys people in the CS clubs simp for? Grades with little to no feedback. There's a reason why half the class failed.
He's not necessarily hard per say, its just that what he's teaching isn't 316. His class is just making infix/postfix notations using LISP(an outdated language). If you look up the course description, he's only following like 2 of the things there. Also his slides are cancerous to look at.
u won't understand a thing bc his slides are word vomit and he sounds like he has tourettes ull be ripping ur hair out trying to follow his essay long instructions installing bs ull fail his exams regardless if u skip his useless class (he bolds absent in red) he sets his first exam date to be after the withdrawal period spare urself and avoid
Bro grades based on his feelings.. I somehow got a way worse grade than my friend who shows up to class when we literally had the same answers! Ain't nobodies fault but urs that they can't understand you and skip ur class since they got better stuff to do than listen to your repetitive speech disorders. Take anyone else if u value ur time and money
AVOID RUN!! he cant write down simple instructions without writing up a whole essay fore ach question on each assignment, and u will spend hours setting up and learning old and outdated software&you wont learn a single thing but lisp and tinyj, if u dont believe me take a peek at what ur getting urself into ibb co/rZ0rbJJ take take heed and avoid!!
Don't be intimidated; assignments make sense after completing them or reviewing solutions. Practice is crucial for exams, so attend lectures and do the readings. Complete assignments honestly. Lectures alone aren't enough—they mostly involve the professor reading slides with a few examples.
Dr. Kong is an extremely detailed person. The emails and slides while extremely long, are explicitly laid out that you shouldn't have be surprised about material or criteria. This material is maybe the most interesting material I came across at QC. I had to miss class a bunch and I got an A from studying the slides and emails. Lectures can be dry.
His assignments are EXTREMELY detailed and everything from his syllabus assignments weekly emails he sends, etc are packed to the brim with word vomit. During the lecture he just reads off his slides and fails to articulate himself properly for majority of the lecture. Avoid this guy like the bubonic plague. Why is he using LISP in 2025?(1950s btw)
Me and other peers still fail to understand why Principles of Programming is being taught using LISP when you can use C which is used today as opposed to LISP which no employer uses in the modern day. To go along with this, Kong does a horrific job at teaching and sends emails with pages of instructions weekly. Don't take this guy he is a HEADACHE
Tao/Svitak Junior. Professor Kong has half his class drop or fail and the remaining students barely make it out. See the grade breakdown for his classes taught at QC. Don't take him unless you really need to do so. Not much learning is done and you forget everything a semester later because LISP is useless.
Why is he uploading our grades on the mars console??? Why am I uploading my assignments to mars?? We have bright space and blackboard but this guy wants to make everyone's life harder. Same thing with the 5 page weekly emails. Making things much harder than they need to be. Fire this man immediately
midterm 2 is a week before the final and midterm 1 is after the drop date on purpose. his weekly emails are super long same with his assignment desc. and everything else is word vomit he goes over slides and nobody goes to class because he just babbles. we learn lisp and tinyj which are horrible ways to teach principles of programming in 2025 avoid
This course is a nightmare and should be avoided unless absolutely required. The structure is confusing and disrespectful of students' time. Midterm 1 is after the drop date to trap students. Midterm 2 is squeezed in a week before the final, leaving little time to prepare and professor Kong obviously doesn't care about students. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Lectures are nearly useless. The professor just reads off slides and rarely explains anything in a meaningful way. No wonder most people stop attending lol you don't gain anything from sitting through the babbling. He doesn't interact much with students and struggles to articulate concepts in a helpful or structured way. Sends 500+ word emails yap
Grading is harsh, inconsistent, and based on vague criteria. Students with the same answers can end up with very different grades, and feedback is minimal or nonexistent. Avoid him if you want to save your time and money. Take someone else like Anne.
Overall, this course is more trouble than it's worth. You don't learn anything useful, everything is outdated (LISP), and the professor's teaching style and communication make everything worse. The stress, confusion, and wasted time just aren't worth it. Avoid this class if you value your time, sanity, or GPA.
Awful. Doesn't teach anything during lectures and sends very long walls of text for anything related to the class. Rude as well.
Professor kong needs to be fired or switch up his approach to teaching because reading over 100 slides per lecture is not optimal for students to learn. Doing things like midterm 2 1wk before the final and midterm 1 in april is pathetic. He places midterm 1 til after the drop date so students just end up failing or get the D. Avoid him == good
Professor Kong has a serious issue with time management with it comes to grading. HW & Exams take forever to be returned. You'll be anxiously waiting for feedback, only to get it back after the next exam or assignment. The second midterm is exactly ONE week before the final and all the material in between is to be self taught. Unprofessional!
Class time is not used well. Instead of breaking down concepts or working through examples, he reads off the slides with very little explaining. If you ask a question, you rarely get a clear or helpful answer. It's annoying when you want to understand the material but are met with vague or confusing explanations. Don't even start on the long emails
The stutter combined with the heavy british accent is not suitable for teaching. That paired with his teaching style being reading over slides makes a recipe for not learning anything The only thing I remember from his lectures is him nagging students to see if they got his 700 word email containing his 500 word assignment prompt. Run while you can
His homework prompts are 6 pages long. The syllabus is 8 pages long with words cluttered together forming word vomit. The professor incentivizes purchasing the course reader and has a negative attitude if you don't purchase it. Lectures are him reading off the slides so there's no real learning. Midterm 2 is a week before the final.
Probably the worse professor in all of QC. If not second to Joseph Svitak. Avoid and take Anne-Smith instead. This guy made me want to quit school and move abroad and start a new life in Sweden.
British version of Tao. Dont take him unless you wanna self teach all the topics and take the second midterm a week before the final. The lectures are not helpful and he complains that nobody attends. The course reader is useless (2 points per exam). His instructions for assignments and emails are all walls of text and unreadable. Avoid.
do NOT take professor kong unless you want to overstress yourself. he doesnt teach at all during classes and his accent is horrific. this guy shouldnt be allowed near a university
Still hasn't put grades in and its the 28th. I wonder why (he gave us the second midterm a week before finals and hasn't graded any of the homework assignments)
He's disorganized, lacks leniency and has hard material. People in this dep like him not for instructional skill or his material but because he's the graduate advisor. So many people tend to suck up to him. Passing his class requires good memorization on a language that's not even useful(LISP).
i received a C+ only because i had to fight tooth and nail to study memorize LISP concepts and things from his tinyJ assignments. the exams favor those who memorize things like that rather than learn actual programming concepts. dont take him unless youre willing to put up with the high work load and stress. the dates of the exams are also bad
This guy is actually worse than Tao. He gave the first midterm after the drop deadline so people intentionally fail. He also gave the second midterm a week before the final so it was hard to determine our grades. On top of that, he grades the HW very late and unfairly along with sending essays worth of emails. Half of the class fails. Stay away!!
The CS groups within QC tend to glaze him cause he's the graduate advisor. Don't be fooled, his course is not that great nor useful(as others have stated, class is heavilyfocused on LISP with bits of TinyJ). He goes super fast and isn't very keen on being asked questions or asked to repeat. Exams are based off of his hw but he is very nitpicky.
I had a problem running the school server through the VM, which you need to upload your assignments. He gave me a rude and very long email when I asked him for assistance. He's also very stingy with grading, exams are tough. He also cold calls during class, so be prepared with something or he will get mad.
Just started this semester, ain't looking good chief.
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Exams are light if you actually pay attention in class, turns out that's the hard part. Feels like a free lullaby on amazon music. He is funny though. Homework is all on mars for some reason. It's beyond me why we learn the second oldest programming language, but I did achieve some enlightenment from understanding recursion better. y 1000 *
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