Chill Bill is Chill

Annoying tests, he's good at heart though. Lectures are a bit hard to pay attention to. He is still learning how to teach so he will get there eventually. Best thing to do is take good lecture notes despite lectures not being the best. If you do this you should be fine.

Bill has the potential to be a great teacher. His lectures are good, he's helpful, and gets back quick. But, our midterm was extremely hard, everyone did terrible, and our assignments were very harshly graded. I like him because he wants to improve as a teacher. The final was much more reasonable and he progressively made the course easier for us.

He is a nice guy, and new at teaching but he does make an effort to improve. Tests were difficult, he grades similar to the SAT's (+ for correct, - for incorrect) which I wasn't a big fan of, and he is a tough grader. With that being said he is very approachable and readily available if you need help. Assignments were doable.

Bill's class is hard, but he's a good teacher. Early in semester there was too little emphasis on *how* to study for the exams, and the midterm was brutally hard -- but he fixed that, and got better as the semester went on. He wants to improve as a teacher, and he did. Test questions come from the book + exercises in the book. Do them; you'll be ok

Tests were hard with a lot of trick questions. I didn't think it was necessary to subtract extra points for incorrect answers rather than give a zero but to each his own I guess. The lectures were very helpful. The projects were pretty easy- you could almost copy them from the book. He will help you out and clear up concepts in office hours.

The first exam I was a little thrown that you actually LOSE points for getting a question wrong BUT he did take our feedback after that exam and lessened the penalty, created a study guide. Exams follows the textbook and lectures pretty closely. No quizzes. One midterm. One final. Projects not bad. Lectures are important, but lets us out early.

Bill is a great guy and is fully willing to better his teaching. His lectures were helpful for understanding the material, and he would answer questions thoroughly. I had experience in everything already taught in the course prior to college, but this class was great for clarification. If you can learn from lectures, textbook is not needed.

If you want an easy A, pick another teacher! Take it from someone who has another B.A., you want to get your money's worth! Lectures are precise, labs reinforce the reading, and quizzes are a prelude to the exams. As long as you attend class, read, and do the labs, you got at least a B. If you want to understand the material, he's your guy!

Dr. Garrison seems to care about everyone learning the material, and presents everything very clearly. He took it from the extreme basics (I'm talking "what is a computer?"), which was kind of refreshing. I learned so much more than I have in any other intro class. Lectures can be dry at times, but he breaks the dullness with in-class activities.

Dr. Garrison is a great guy and a good teacher. He is always available during his office hours or via email. He explains material well and always answers all questions during lectures. If you do what you are supposed to do (read and practice - how else can you learn programming!), you will get at least a B+.

Bill is great. 1501 is a difficult class no matter what, and much of the course topics/projects were chosen by someone else. Would do examples in class until everyone understood, and was always more than willing to help in his office. Tests could be tricky, but again those weren't completely his design. New-er to teaching, you can tell he cares.

Bill is always available outside of class and is very accessible. The assignments are difficult but do-able, but he's always willing to email and help outside of class. Exams are very difficult but they closely resemble practice exams and are curved. Lecture attendance counts towards grade, and lectures are generally helpful.

Ran into some bumps at the beginning with the TAs' grading, but Garrison sorted it right out. Good lecturer, cares about the students and is interested in their learning. Strict grading but with the goal of creating a better computer scientist, and all his grades (in fact all the class) are built around that. Definitely attend class!

Garrison was a great professor. The first project was a little shaky but he lowers wait on your lowest project. After that the rest of the projects were very doable. Go to office hours he is very helpful. The tests were hard. He gives study guides so study them thoroughly. He also curves. Start projects sooner rather than later so you can get help.

Garrison was a great professor. The first project was a little shaky but he lowers weight on your lowest project. After that the rest of the projects were very doable. Go to office hours he is very helpful. The tests were hard. He gives study guides so study them. He also curves. Start projects sooner rather than later so you can get help.

Nice professor. Provide help outside classrooms. The assignments are sometimes confusing, but if you email him he will give explanations. The grading criteria is clear so do all the required jobs and you will be fine. The lowest grade would weight less so don't worry too much on assignments. Recommended.

Definitely not an easy class, but Professor Garrison will get the most out of it for you. He's a really smart guy, tries to trick you in lectures and tests on wording so you have to read carefully. Projects weren't difficult. Tests and quizzes curved.

I don't know why people rate him so low, but he's actually not that bad. If you're a slacker like me, you WILL get destroyed by the projects if you wait until the last mintue. Do *not* procrastinate in this class on projects. He also no longer does the SAT style tests.

Class and exams are very difficult but Dr. G gives clear expectations with rubrics and tests. Very accessible outside of class by email and in office hours. Lectures can be boring but not terrible.

Good professor, the projects have 1-2 tricks in them that you need to figure out to get a 95+ on. Helpful during office hours but they are often packed. Your grade is pretty much going to be reliant on how bad you do on the final exam, since your final grade can only vary by +- 1 letter grade of your final exam, and exams are tough and long.

Garrison is an amazing lecturer, very clear and precise. He uses an online attendance/multiple choice question called tophat. If you're paying attention or taking notes, you should easily get most of the questions right. The hardest part of the class was the five coding assignments. Tests are pretty doable. Overall a great class.

Garrison is a very clear and precise lecturer. He does make 441 a little hard for non-mathy people I guess but he is very helpful and answers questions. Yeah his tests are kind of hard and require some studying and practice, but if you put in some work, do the homework, and pay attention in lecture you will be fine. Bonidie is MUCH EASIER though.

His lectures and recitations are mandatory -- 10% attendance point. Overall a good professor, and I'd like to take his other class, but for cs441 there are other options to get a better grade. But I do learn a lot, so it is worth it. Also, this class is way harder than I expect.

I loved Garrison's lectures and learned a TON in this class. The class isn't an easy A, but it's definitely possible to end up with a great grade with a little work. Top Hat questions keep you on your toes throughout the lecture, the assignments are definitely doable, and the exams are a little tough, but also doable. Definitely recommend

Really clear lecturer and super nice guy if you talk to him outside of class. Heard a lot of complaints from students that his tests are too hard, he gives too much homework, etc. Honestly it's an easy class - just do the practice midterm/final and try and understand the concepts. He's not going to trick you.

Great lecturer, hard assignments. Holds decent office hours and honestly cares that you understand the material (makes sure you understand before you pass, though).

Participation/attendance is important. We used TopHat. Makes class interesting and encourages asking questions.

Had him for Digital Privacy. Lectures were fantastic. Homework and projects weren't too heavy or excessive. Class was overall very enjoyable.

Dr. Garrison is a fantastic lecturer. He is patient with questions and wants students to understand material before moving on with the next topic. The projects and quizzes can be difficult, but good time management can make the class doable. Reading the book definitely helps.

1501 has extremely difficult projects/tests. Garrison is a great lecturer who always answers questions the best he can. He is tough but fair on grading tests, the TA's were lenient with the project grades as well. If you take good notes during lectures you will at least pass. You can get a good grade by reading the textbook, but I passed without it

I have had Dr. Garrison for a few classes now, and he is one of my favorite professors at Pitt. His classes are tough but fair, and you will learn a lot. Don't expect an easy A, but he is accessible outside of class and willing to help, and if you pay attention and do the work you will get a good grade and feel like you earned it.

Good lecturer. Don't buy the book, Garrison makes all lecture slides available via Tophat. There are daily miniquizzes via Tophat, but they are very easy and curved. Coding projects were fun, relatively simple and straightforward, and offered a little extra credit. Recitation is not required but recommended. Exams were fair, included little coding

One of the better professors at Pitt. For Data Structures I recommend following along with the recommend readings at it helped a lot. The midterm was tough, but the test were all manageable. Tough third project, but reading the book helps for almost all of the projects, and he drops the lowest ones. Don't let the small brains of Pitt deceive you.

Professor Garrison is great at emphasizing and explaining certain topics in lectures. The only problem I would say is that he sometimes makes the topic way harder than it should be for what we need to know for CS. Overall, his exams are very easy, homework grade is worth as much as an exam grade and he drops the lowest two homework grades.

CS1501 is a tough course with no matter who you take it. Paying attention in lectures and taking close notes is pretty much mandatory if you want to pass this course. It's very much possible to do so with enough work, however.

This class with Garrison is challenging (know people who struggled in this after doing well in all required engineering math) but worth it imo b/c it forces you to learn the type of mathematical thinking that will be hugely helpful to you later in CS. The HW's are often a lot but if you do them fully and thoroughly you'll do well in this class.

Garrison is a very good lecturer and has very reasonable and clear expectations of you. Would recommend.

Garrison's coding assignments are not easy except for maybe one. For the exams, I would say that the True/False and MC are easy but the coding/writing portion is HARD. Overall he is really supportive though. I personally had a lot of things happen this semester that made school very hard on me and he was there for me more than any other professor.

Had Garrison for security/cryptography. Exams, projects, etc. are all tough but fair. All projects are done in a group of 2 or 3. He is super accessible outside of class, and you can tell that he really cares about student success.

Dr. Garrison is an excellent lecturer and the kind of professor that wants to challenge you. As he puts it, he wants your degree to mean something. He's a very charismatic individual and really knows how to make the information click in your head. Study hard for his tests and try to show up every class because they can be really tough if you don't.

Course was Special Topics - Privacy in the Electronic Society. You can tell that Dr. Garrison is passionate about security/privacy, and we covered many interesting topics. I particularly enjoyed the projects - they were very open-ended, allowing you to explore specific areas that you enjoy. He's also very accessible out of class through Discord.

He genuinely cared about the class and students. The assignments/labs clearly outline what you're graded on. No partial credit if it won't compile. Start early and go to office hours. Some info for labs is given only in recitations, so attend them. One of the best classes and professors I've had at Pitt in 3 years. Motivated me to work hard again.

Very fair teacher you get the grade you deserve.

I enjoyed this class and think he's a great professor. His section of 441 is probably harder than some others, but it's not too bad if you stay on track and use all the resources he provides. The HWs are pretty hard which he admits, but if you understand most the stuff on them then you will definitely be good for the exams. Very clear and fair.

Privacy in the Electronic Society has to be my favorite class that I'm taking this term. I've had Garrison in previous classes and he's just fantastic. Cares about students' wellbeing and is always fun to just have a regular chat with. Cannot recommend enough!

Best lecturer Pitt CS has

Yes, cs 441 is a hard class. But that doesn't mean Dr. Garrison is a bad professor. I learned a lot from this course. If you do the homeworks and go to office hours you will have no trouble succeeding. It is also essential to attend lectures and recitations, not because he checks, but because you will be horribly confused if you don't.

- on tests, not asking you to come up with a new trick for a problem, but he would have gone over it in past material - only has online office hours which need to be booked in advance - always willing to talk outside class or in class about mathematics - other prof doesn't go over induction, so take him for proper 1502 prep

Pretty good professor overall. Although his exams are tough, his lectures were very helpful and went at a very comfortable pace, even if it was a little fast at times. Lectures covered topics in great detail and provided helpful examples. Although the content is tough, Dr. Garison does a great job of teaching it. Would reccomend.

Professor Garrison was easily one of my favorite lecturers. He is very patient and answers questions perfectly. My only complaint is class structure. The midterm and final make up 30% of the grade each. Homework only makes up 20%, even though one assignment can take hours. I learned a lot from the class, but the studying and workload is very heavy.

Privacy with Dr. Garrison is a whole lot of fun. The topics covered are very interesting and I found the projects to be fun, challenging, and rewarding. The exams are very fair as they test your understanding of the material, not your memorization skills. Attend lecture, take your time on the projects, and you'll do fine in this class.

Excellent at explaining concepts and is quick to clarify anything that may have been confusing. Homework and exams were very thorough in terms of what they were asking for and there was no ambiguity at all. Be sure to watch out for new assignments cause they were worth 50% of the overall grade. All in all he's one who is tough, but fair.

Professor Garrison clearly cares about teaching. He's quick to answer questions about anything, he's very thorough with the material, and because of that he does expect a lot from his students! The course's 5 projects were very challenging (often taking 15-30 hours of work to complete) and they were worth 40% of your overall grade.

Assigns lots of homework but it is absolutely helpful to do all of it. You will need the textbook in some form or other. He answers questions very thoroughly but often doesn't use layman's terms which can make a complicated stuff even more confusing. In-class participation is graded on correctness and not participation, but you can make it up.

good

Definitely a very smart guy with a lot of prior background in discrete mathematics. Answer's to questions can be formulated confusingly but he does make sure you understand before moving on. Homeworks are quite hefty but they are incredibly similar to exam questions so make sure you get each question.

Garrison is one of the best. His lectures/teaching style is perfect for those who need a lot of examples to "get it". His homework is challenging but is a bit trickier than the exam. You can also get help from Ta office hours every day at different times. He loves his job and it shows. A little tip is to study the practice exams more than the hw!

The most clear and concise lecturer at Pitt. Which I really appreciate, makes note-taking easier. Records lectures, so always opportunity to review or relearn a concept you found difficult. Very friendly and always responsive. The semester long group project was extremely useful, I learned a TON, it was my favorite project in any CS class

A very hard class but a great instructor. Be ready for an insane amount of homework. Ultimately though, the homework saved my ass from failing. The homework questions really prepared me for the finals and midterm. Because of them, I didn't need to study and still did well.

Dr. Garrison is a great lecturer. Even though 441 is the first time most people see logic/proofs, his explanations are clear and thorough. He has great availability for office hours and tests are curved/graded very fairly.

Good lecturer despite Discrete Math not being a very interesting topic. Expect ~15 textbook problems and a 2-3 page recitation problem set each week. Do the homework and you'll be better prepared for 1502.

Easily one of the best courses I took as an undergrad. The content was well-organized, exactly the right balance of being technical and yet still cool. The open-ended assignments were done perfectly - the grading requirements were clear without being restricting, and managed on both canvas and github flawlessly. 10/10 in every metric.

Every class is super interesting and Garrison is an amazing lecturer. Weekly HW of ~8 problems and recitation of ~5 problems. Go to recitation and do your HW, it is actually really good practice and helps a lot for exams and understanding. Also the review sessions Garrison holds help a lot for exams as well as understanding question formatting.

Dr. Garrison is amazing at getting ideas across during lecture. He can move fast at times but he records and posts all lectures which can act as a great study tool. Weekly homework can be very difficult and time consuming but doing it really helps to prepare for the exams which are way easier than the homework. Interesting class and great prof.

Professor Garrison is very intelligent and knowledgeable. His lectures were kind of dry and covered examples, but the class was sometimes not at his level yet. He gave tophats every day that you could make up, but I'd recommend coming to class. Recitations don't take attendance and are graded on worksheet completion but you should go.

I was able to pass 1501 after taking it with Garrison after failing it with Khattab. I highly recommend Garrison because his lectures are way more organized and clear. We never fell behind in the syllabus and the projects were a reasonable difficulty with very clear instructions. That is all I ask for when taking a class and Garrison delivered.

Professor Garrison might be one of the smartest profs I have ever had the pleasure of having, it's definitely intimidating out of the gate too. His grasp of CS concepts, and his ability to reword an example tailored to you is just incredible to observe. Even if you are not in CS, I highly recommend ANYONE take a course lead by him

Lectures have a funny cadence that makes it sound like he's giving a TED talk. The class is difficult, you'll have to listen. Wish I had started going to office hours earlier (Owen and Minhal are great!) you should start going early to get help on things you don't understand it's also nice to have a check because homework is graded on correctness.

Lectures are pretty key to understanding the material. Reading the textbook is very helpful as well, definitely an excellent way to study, as concepts correlate very closely. Definitely a hard class, but HW/recitations are designed to bring your grade up. Not an easy class, but Garrison is an experienced lecturer and is open to questions.

bill is wonderful. the class is EXTREMELY hard, but he teaches it really well and you learn a lot. the one "uh-oh" is that all deadlines are hard deadlines: do not forget to submit work. he's also very easy to talk to + generally chill---only got upset when students ignored SEVERAL warnings to stop talking during an optional review session

Dr. Garrison was an incredible lecturer, he is extremely knowledgeable and can talk for the whole class without stuttering or backtracking once. I never found myself confused because of him. The course was challenging, including the midterm and final, but everything was fair. I would highly recommend taking a course by him.

As someone else said, he lectures like he's giving a TED talk, but this makes him easy to understand. He's very clear and is always willing to clarify. Midterm and Final are very difficult, and unlike Bonidie you will not be allowed a cheat sheet. Overall high quality professor, but a tough grader.

Great professor. As other people have said, he's so well prepared and knowledgeable his lectures are like a TED talk. Masterfully adjusts to explain things from a different perspective when students are confused or have questions. Homework is difficult but prepares you well for exams along with practice exams. Discrete is a hard class though.

Garrison is good, lectures like a TED talk and truly knows his stuff. Discrete is a different way of thinking which makes the class hard. You have to understand what is going on, the definitions, and the why behind each concept to truly understand discrete. The homework, recitation, and exams were all fair.

Great professor with near perfect lectures, but the material is tough and there is a lot. The course was VERY test heavy. The recitation work was intense and ridiculously long. Overall, I recommend going to lectures and keeping up with the material as it is very easy to fall behind and have no idea what's happening.

Dr. Garrison is an amazing lecturer. He was always accessible outside of office and was very proactive with updating office hours + was on Discord a lot, which was really helpful. The only downside is that because this is a 6 week course, he has to go much faster than usual, making it very easy to get lost if you aren't updating on the material.

I had Garrison for 0441 and loved him - he was an even better professor for 1501. I really wish he taught 1501 in fall/spring rather than the summer since the course becomes accelerated, but if anyone can help you pass this class in the summer, it'd be him over Farnan or Khattab any day

This was the accelerated, six-week summer session for 1501. It's a hard class, yeah, so exams are tough, but coding assignments were easily doable. Bill is great at explaining complicated topics well with great examples, very patient with bad questions, very accessible with rapid turnaround, and a fair grader.

Dr. Garrison delivers clear and engaging lectures like doing TED Talks. Course management and expectations are straightforward and reasonable. Exams are hard so do practice exams, review homework, and go over the questions he solves in the lecture (important). A decent grade is attainable but you will need a full understanding of the materials.

Discrete math with Professor Garrison is no easy feat, but engaging with his well-structured lectures and using tools like unstuck ai for study prep can make a big difference. Homework and exams are challenging, but manageable if you stay on top of the material.

Very well structured class, with ample review material that is more difficult than the actual exams. Fantastic, well-spoken professor that makes complicated topics clear.

Much more personable in his upper level electives. He's approachable, and even though his course content is often complex (and in high volume), he will really sit down with you to make sure you understand the material if you go to office hours. He's also responsive to emails and discord messages outside of those hours. Can't recommend him enough.

I barely passed the class with a C. Despite that, I think Garrison is a great lecturer who's clearly passionate for what he teaches. Be awake for the lectures! The subject is challenging, but his lectures are good at explaining stuff. I recommend reading the textbook. He records his lectures and posts his slides. Homework and recitation every week.

HARD course. Expect to grind. Great lecturer, always prepared, always concise and to the point, relevant slides. He's like a mini Pitt David Malan in terms of lecturing. But man was this stuff HARD. Use Kimberly Brehm Discrete I playlist to supplement learning. If you're going for an A other professors are easier. If you're here to learn pick Bill.

Bill is the best lecturer I've had so far at Pitt. He does an amazing job at explaining everything and is so engaging throughout the whole class. Expect a lot of work, but if you go to class, and do what is assigned, you will be perfectly fine. Take prof. Garrison if you care about learning the material.

Garrison is a fantastic lecturer and great at explaining things, but a tough grader. For discrete structures, we had two assignments a week, though one of them was graded more on completion and the answers were discussed in recitation before the due date. The exams are hard, and it's important to read before class, but you learn what you need to.

Excellent lecturer, tests are hard but fine if you do the HW and readings.

The course material is somewhat difficult but you will learn a lot with Garrison. Very good lectures, you will know what you need to know. One caveat is that there's a lot of homework, but it prepares you well for the midterms/finals which make up most of your grade.

He talks a lot, and the material is mostly self-explanatory. The labs and lectures are completely unrelated, and yes, you receive different assignments for both the lab and the lectures each week. His TAs can sometimes be tough, but overall, the experience is good. Attendance is mandatory, and there are Top Hat questions every day.

The class is made up of mandatory lectures, weekly group activities, labs, and a few essays. Everything is fairly easy and, besides the essays, I finished everything within the class periods. His lectures are fantastic, but the assignments were graded incredibly strictly by his TA's. I still was able to get an A pretty easily, though.

Very easy class to pass, just show up and do all your assignments on time, there's really no way to fail if you stick to that.

Less strict and more interested in you compared to 441. He writes you tons of feedback on projects and homework. The projects are open-ended, and you need to select a privacy topic of your choice and do something interesting with it. Nice delivery of his expertise in lectures, and overall, a highly effective instructor.

He did his best to explain a rather boring topic. He connected the work to his interested in higher level CS and made creative assignments. He doesn't grade anything really; it's the TA's that you never to be warry about.

Didn't love the class, I found it kind of boring, but no problems with Garrison. Tried his best to make lectures engaging and interactive, which must be hard in a big lecture hall. Also was very helpful when I went to him outside of class. Attendance not "mandatory" but 10% of grade is in-class Top Hat questions. TAs could also be a little strict.