Review:
Excellent teacher; incredibly bright.

[NOTE: While I don't know if Couch is still teaching COMP15, this review is NOT course-specific.]

Prof. Couch is, overall, an absolutely excellent teacher. The one warning I'd give is that he does have a very strong personality -- while 95% of the students I've talked to really like him as a teacher, the remaining 5% tend to have extreme personality conflicts & end up loathing him. This is the only reason I give him an A-.

He's an amazing lecturer, with energy, verve, and wit. There is an occasional exception: sometimes he'll lecture while he's at a computer, typing notes & examples as he goes along (displayed on an overhead projector). I feel that his otherwise incredible lecturing style suffers greatly when he's using this approach; however, it is undeniable that the notes & examples produced are very useful to have online as a reference.

He's extremely bright, and could probably be earning a truckload of cash in industry if he wanted to, but he's teaching instead.

He works hard on classes, and acted as unpaid sysadmin for the departmental computers for several years. [I'm glad he doesn't still have to do that; the extra work was visibly stressful to him & probably impacted his teaching during that time....I had him as a teacher before those couple-of-years. I've been told by other students that he's back to his old self, now. :]

You can learn a lot from him, and have a good time doing it. Workload in his courses tends to be a bit above university average, but also tends to be much more interesting (assuming you like Comp Sci, that is).

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How I know Prof. Couch: I took several courses from him, TAed for several of his classes, had him as my graduate advisor, and worked under him for a while after graduating.

It's been a while since I was in a course of his, which is why I don't give grades in the various categories - my recollections of such specific things may be inaccurate after this much time.

Workload:
N/A

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Alva Couch | COMP080 - PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES | Computer Science

2005-07-22

Review:
Exceptional teacher. Assignments are challenging yet interesting and rewarding. His tests were very hard and only a true mastery of the class concepts will net an A. However, it's still possible to do well in the course through dilligence on assignments and extra-credit. I highly recommend Couch if you want to learn and get your money's worth.

Workload:
N/A

professor rating: | course rating: | major: N/A

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Alva Couch | COMP080 - PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES | Computer Science

2005-05-16

Review:
You'll feel like you're in a class from the 70's learning arcane information about computer languages, in my opinion, completely irrelevant to modern knowledge. The languages start off with BF (It's short for "brainfuck" for a reason), random stuff about C++, and then the agony of coding in Lisp and Prolog. I thought the books are poorly written and overlap with the lecture notes posted online (the one good thing about the class). The book about Prolog, for instance, is from perhaps the 80's and apparently the only introductory book out there. Folks, there's a reason Prolog and BF aren't taught in the classroom. It's because they're painful languages with little to no practical application. You'll spend many hours a week banging your head against the wall while you futilely try to decipher the horrendous syntax of these monster assignments Couch cooks up.

All these languages are taught in a short semester, and you're expected to do complex projects on these subjects that aren't even remotely interesting.

Couch has the potential to be a GREAT professor -- he's actually a very smart man. But whoever came up with the curriculum for this course (probably Couch..) is a zany individual.

Workload:
In my opinion, the projects are a horrendous waste of time. There was one due roughly every ten days, and I'd estimate it took me at least 20-30 hours to get right. It's not abnormal for you to spend hours just looking at the project description, trying to figure out what the hell Couch wants you to do.

You're allowed to redo the projects for a 10% penalty upon each submission, but that basically means you're just always behind, trying to improve an abysmal score on an old project.

Oh yeah. And the grading is pretty much set in stone according to the guidelines posted at beginning of year (projects worth about 50% of total grade). There is no curve. If you do not work hard, you will not do well in this class. Take "Jewish Studies" or "American Fiction" for that easy A.

professor rating: | course rating: | major: Electrical Engineering

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Alva Couch | COMP020 - Multimedia Programming | Computer Science

2005-03-13

Review:
It takes a couple weeks to get used to Professor Couch. Yes, he is like that. Yes, he is like that ALL the time. Lectures are certainly not dull, but don't expect to get down all the notes he presents. Comp 20 moves insanely fast, and it is easy to get behind. One should either have a good working knowledge of programming terminology and a decent familiarity with HTML, or expect to put in a lot of study time learning them. I'm not a Comp Sci major, so I struggled a bit at the beginning. But the good news is that Professor Couch is relatively receptive to meeting with students, and will greatly help you in both understanding the material and doing the assignments. Easily one of my favorite courses at Tufts.

Workload:
Extremely challenging assignments every couple of weeks, two quizzes (fill in the blank), a midterm, and a final exam (longer programming questions).

professor rating: | course rating: | major: N/A

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Alva Couch | COMP111 - Operating Systems | Computer Science

2004-12-25

Review:
Professor Couch is a genius--and a mad genius at that. His course was insanely hard at times, especially for lowly undergrads, but he is an excellent professor and helped us get through it. He makes himself available for outside help as much as possible (this is the first class for which I've actually needed outside help, if that tells you how hard he is). I learned a lot and highly recommend the course and professor Couch to anyone majoring in Comp. Sci.

Workload:
5 projects, mid-term and final. Most of the projects were very difficult and time consuming. The exams weren't as bad if you kept up with the material.

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Alva Couch | COMP020 - Multimedia Programming | Computer Science

2004-03-05

Review:
Multimedia Programming should not be overlooked by any programmer interested in the Internet. The class is worthwhile if merely to hear Couch's maniacal laugh. Unfortunately, the class attracts many students without sufficient programming experience to keep the class moving swiftly. Couch's assignments are challenging but deadlines are often extended or changed due to complaints from slower students. Nevertheless, students are offered the chance to delve deep into Perl, php, and JavaScript with additional focus on database interaction. With the guidance of Professor Couch, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

Workload:
New assignments every 2-3 weeks, extremely challenging and time consuming.

professor rating: | course rating: | major: N/A

review a class you took with Alva Couch - help your classmates make informed decisions!