Tufts University: COMP115 - Database Systems - Computer Science - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccessReview:
The guy is amazing.
He seems to know everything. Not only how to do things, but why you should do them. His classes are full of insightful commentary about how computers relate to the rest of society, what's good, what's bad. He can trace a database operation down to the exact tracks on disk that are being read without breaking a sweat.
And his stories! He is funny. I heard he sometimes does standup comedy and uses his classes for material. He's the kind of guy who would write reviews of himself.
Workload:
Easy.
review a class you took with Bil Lewis - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: COMP115 - Database Systems - Computer Science - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccessReview:
Professor Stafford is great. She was always very enthusiastic and is willing to help in and out of the classroom. She lets students explore their own interests with their projects.
Workload:
N/A
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review a class you took with Judith Stafford - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: COMP115 - Database Systems - Computer Science - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccessReview:
This class was... interesting, to say the least. This was the first time Prof. Lewis taught the class (Fall 2004) and let's say, he's no expert on databases.
The class essentially progressed chapter by chapter in the book as he stayed a chapter ahead of us, reading it himself. Nonetheless, he was honest when he wasn't sure of something, freely admitting it, but also wrote the book authors complaining that something was incorrect in the book. So, he certainly cared about the class. He eventually got a response back, and they agreed with him.
Prof. Lewis is a character -- I am still trying to figure out where he is from. He seems to have traveled everywhere and done everything, from conferences in Sweden to teaching high school in Kenya. His website at www.lambdacs.com gives some hints on what he's done. He ended every class with a bizarre story, and I have to wonder if they weren't all actually true. I really don't know.
Prof. Lewis' areas of expertise are in multithreaded programming and Java. I would be interested to seem him teach classes that coincide with his areas of expertise -- I think he would be a good professor.
As much as I liked him, I have to admit the class was really worthless. I learned very little, and nothing of practical use.
Workload:
Nonexistent. We had some book homeworks and then a project and paper at the end of the semester.
Professor does not like the idea of grades. Easy A.
review a class you took with Bil Lewis - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: COMP115 - Database Systems - Computer Science - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccessReview:
She is a good teacher, but she did not have enough knowledge in databases, and she even admitted it. Lectures are mainly slides put together an hour before the class, i.e. boring. You're better off reading the book on your own, rather than spending time in the lecture. There were 6 tests, almost every other week. So I felt like I was in high school again. I was looking forward to the final project but our final project was really simple, and not challenging at all. She didn't provide any guidance whatsoever; I had to learn everything on my own.
She's a concerned teacher, and she cares about students, and the course is pretty easy compared to other CS courses, but you don't learn too much in the course.
Workload:
Workload is reasonable. The only bad thing is that we had exams almost every other week, and that?s pointless. And we didn't have enough programming projects (only 1!) to actually apply what we learned.
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review a class you took with Judith Stafford - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: COMP115 - Database Systems - Computer Science - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccessReview:
Professor is very concerned with students progress. She is very enthusiastic about the course and brings real world experience into the classroom. She expects and appreciates creativity in her students.
Workload:
Acceptable work load, with flexible requirement ? assignments are often team based.
professor rating: | course rating: | major: N/A |
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review a class you took with Judith Stafford - help your classmates make informed decisions!