Mealy, Bryan  

This professor is extremely arrogant and condescending. He is very very harsh with his verbal feedback in front of the entire class. He made me cry once because of how condescending and frustrating he was being. Seems like a very intelligent man, but he knows that too and never stops trying to make that apparent. The class requires way too much work for a GE. I get that communications is important, but you don't have to prove that by giving so much work! I should not be struggling to get an A. I highly recommend you do NOT take this class.

Mealy is one of the best teachers at Poly. Even though I struggled to get a B (mostly my fault cuz I slacked through middle part of quarter) he gets the course material across to the students quite well. His lectures are so good, that you will hardly use your textbook, except only to do the problems. This is why I would recommend trying to avoid missing a class. The book for this course is not well written and can be confusing at times if it is not supplemented with some type of lecture. Mealy is a stingy grader, so be careful when you read a problem and be careful in all of your steps. All of his midterms are open book and open note; however be cautious about this cuz his exams are written so that you will not have enough time to finish if you are constantly flipping through your notes. If you know the material well, you can speed through his exams. Mealy does not throw anything at you that you haven't seen before. No question is too trivial to ask him either. He is more than happy to answer any type of question. I would definitly recommend him.

I would not take this class or CPE 229 from any other professor but Bryan. Reason being is that I looked forward to going to class. Perhaps its because the material isn't that difficult, but I believe its because of the way he views his roll as a teacher. He sees eye level with students, and I believe is very humble. When you go into his office hours you don't feel like you're going in for help from a professor but rather you see yourself just wanting to hang out. I've never heard a bad word spoken about him and don't believe I ever would, he is very genuine. Academically he gives you every resource possible to do good, allows you to use notes and the book for midterms and the final, no homework to turn in, he does assign homework however but he posts all solutions online. He also puts old quizzes and tests online with answers. The tests you will take will be pretty much the same.

Mealy is the fucking coolest teacher you will ever meet. He is an awesome lecturer, and is the only goddamned CPE teacher at this school that can teach worth a crap (at least for lower division CPE courses). I suppose thats why he won Lecturer AND Lab teacher of the year at the CPE banquet, and EE teacher of the year at the EE banquet. This guy is fucking rad, and if you ever talk shit about him I swear to god I will motherfucking cut you.

If you're looking on polyratings for a CPE 129 professor because you don't know which among the professors you should choose that await you on POWER... ...look no further. Mealy's the man, baby! P.S. He's good for CPE 169 too...in fact, sign up for ANY Mealy class.

Awesome, and fair, most of what needs to be said has been said already.

Mealy is an excellent professor. His enthusiasm for the material comes through in his lecture and makes it very enjoyable to come to class. One of the best professors I've had, I only wish I could have taken him for 229 as well.

Simply the best teacher you can take in EE or CPE classes. The only reason i got a C+ was because i did horrible on the midterms. But overall, he just gives you the grade you get on the final, if you do well.

Funny guy, one of the best CPE profs i've had at CP.

Mealy is the bomb. Not only is his 129/169 class easy if you are any good at programming (which you should be after 101/102/103) but he allows open notes, open laptop, open everything on the midterms and finals. The class average of the two midterms was an 88% and 93% when I took him.

Straight up, one of the best professors at CalPoly. Intelligent, down to earth, and nonconformist ;)

Ok, all I have to say is that this guy rocks! He is, without a doubt, the best teacher I have ever had, period. I was amazed at how willing he was to work with me after I had been gone for almost two weeks due to medical problems. I think I put in extra effort because he made the effort to accomadate me as much as possible, while still making sure that I understood the material. Great guy, hands down! Would certainly take him again should the opportunity present itself, and recommend that you take him as well.

First off, Mealy was awesome, hes a really nice guy and he's really easy going in the class, albeit a little scatterbrained. The lab writeups are kinda rough, but its not too bad. I didn't think he explained stuff all that well though adn his midterms were poorly written, I had a hard time understanding what he was asking for a lot of the time, even if I'd ask him to explain it I'd still be a little confused. But this was the experimental 129/169 so he had to come up with everything as he went along so I don't blame him for having wacky tests, I never actually did that bad on them, aside from a few questions, cause they're open computer (so you can just look up his notes online) so that helped a lot. I saw him after the quarter ended and mentioned how confusing his tests were and he he wished I had told him, he would have fixed them. I recommend him and I would definitely take him again.

For a brand new experimental class, it didn't go so bad. He had to make everything as we went though, which got a little out of hands sometimes, given he seems to be a bit scattered normally anyways. Sometimes he appeared overly tired for some reason too. Anyways, as for the class, it turned out pretty well. The class mainly consisted of the labs which were manageable to do, and if you asked for help he would more than willingly try his best to explain things. The lab write ups did have to show effort and professionalism though, which got a little annoying. His tests I thought were just bad though. Again understandable for an experimental class. Sometimes I just did not understand what the question was asking, other times it was stuff I really hadn't even seen in the labs. But, being open notes/computer it helped. He's a great professor.

So much patience and modesty, cherish the days you are in his class, because you are never going to find another teacher like him. Everytime you raise your hand he'll run to you to answer your questiond, thats how amazing he is. He made my introductory course into hardware seem so easy. It was just a fun class.

I have never had a professor/teacher(either at Poly or anywhere else), who was so focused on providing his students with the best education possible. He wanted us to do well so badly, that it really motivated me to work harder. It's so refreshing to take a course and feel like your professor is heart and soul behind you, instead of some egomaniacal douchebag, who wears a 50% course failure rate around like it's a fucking merit badge. If there is one thing that is abundantly clear about Bryan, it is that he's on your side. Beyond sincerely caring, Bryan's ability to communicate 1 on 1 with students is exceptional. He is very humble, and has a self-efacing sense of humor which make it easy to ask him questions without fear of sounding stupid. I've heard him field some pretty dumb questions(some of which I asked myself) and at no point did he get frustrated, angry or condescending - He stays mellow and keeps trying to explain things until you get it. Highly approachable. I found his test and quiz questions to be fair(although the final was loooooooong), and flush with the lab activities and excercises from the book. Do yourself a massive favor and keep up with the reading, and make up your own HW assignments using the excercises from the book. That extra practice will get you a lot of mileage in the class. Also, CPE 133 gets tougher as you go along, so don't get too comfortable early on. I went into CPE 133 mildly interested, and now I'm fucking stoked about CPE 233. Take Bryan Mealy if at all possible - you wont regret it.

Mealy is a very relaxed chill guy, which makes it so easy for students to get along with and ask anything they have trouble with. His lectures are more of a breeze through the material rather than going too in-depth because he expects you to read the book. The book was written by him and it's so easy to understand, so I highly suggest reading the book. The labs get pretty tough, but he's always there to help. Read the book and you'll do fine on the tests, which are open book!

by far the best CPE experience ive had at poly. he make it very evident that he wants you to understand the material and succeed. some of the labs got frustrating but they are all do-able and hes very clear with what he wants. hes very open to feedback from the class as long as its not too ridiculous. the class is alot of work bc there is a lab due almost every day, either a quiz or exam every friday, in addition to voluntary HW / Reading he kind of expects you to do. overall hes really chill and on your side.

By far the best professor I've ever had anywhere. His lectures lasted anywhere from 20-50 minutes and the rest was working through the labs. By the end of this course, we completed 24 labs(complete with 24 lab reports..), but it was a course where the teacher was so motivated, that it made me want to work that much harder(See below; someone said pretty much the same thing). By the end of the course, he was more of a mentor than a teacher and that is something I have never experienced before. If you can take him at anytime, do it. You will enjoy almost(lab reports) every moment.

mealy is what all professors should strive to be. Completely understanding, truly cares about students, loves teaching, loves the subject, and grades you on your understanding of the material. (he doesnt care if you turn in stuff a day late, or if you mess up some minor stuff, as long as you understood what you did.) Like everyone else says: take him while you have the chance you silly mo fo.

Best professor ever. Also, if you have any questions, even if they're not directly related to the class, he'll do his best to answer. Please call him "Mealy Machine". Once you've taken 129/169 or 133, you'll see where the nickname comes from. I almost wish I failed the class so I would have an excuse to take it again.

I took this Digital Design class during fall quarter of 2011. I soon found this class to be my favorite of the quarter, not for the substance, but for the class structure and Bryan's laid back attitude. Bryan is a very likable teacher, as you can see from his other polyratings. His class was comprised of 3 quizzes, 3 midterms, a group lab notebook, a lab final, and a lecture final. It seemed to me that the hardest questions were saved for his very long lecture final and lab final. Any tests during the quarter were relatively straightforward. I did not really interact with Bryan much, as much of my time was spent working on the daily labs with my lab partners. This being said, if you want the one-on-one interaction, Bryan is accessible during lab and will try his best to help you. To me, Bryan's class made a very dry and uninteresting subject easy and straightforward.

Take Brian. Take Brian. Take Brian. Brian is the best professor in digital design you could ever have. He is straightforward, and doesn't give any bull crap like other professors might in teaching logic and VHDL. I have fully enjoyed his class, and I have to say he really does care for the students. If you take his class, be sure to not buy his textbooks, as he gives the entire copy of the textbooks online.

133 can kind of be a hectic class in that you can do up to lab experiments a week (not always the case). Bryan did a good job in making what we were learning easy to understand. He cares a lot about his students and the quality of his teaching, and is very open to other people's views and opinions. The quizzes and midterm exams are pretty straightforward and of moderate difficulty (in my opinion). The lab and lecture final are a lot longer and more challenging, so be sure to prep for those, and don't be afraid to ask. Lab reports (~24 of them) can be tedious, but thankfully Bryan is very flexible with due dates. During labs, he's literally running around trying to help as much people as he can. He's giving it his all, and you'll appreciate that. Take this guy if you have the chance. Unlike what the person below me said, you may want to buy the book. It's about 30 dollars but I certainly appreciated being able to thumb through pages and mark stuff up rather than just having the free pdf. It's up to you.

Like many of the comments listed below, I also highly recommend Bryan mainly due to his easy-going, amiable, and practical teaching style. I would say his course consists of 20%~30% lecture and the rest for lab work which I really enjoyed - this layout helped us focus more on the practical aspect of digital design. I'm not sure how he is during office hours because I received all the help I needed during lab/lecture; I'm certain, however, that he's even more helpful during office hours after just seeing how he is during lab/lecture. In general, his course is straightforward which includes midterms, quizzes, and lab reports BUT his final is a different story - compared to the midterms and quizzes, the final was epic in terms of difficulty and length. If I remember correctly, not that many people were able to finish in time. Personally, I got averaged an A on the midterms and quizzes but ended up getting a B on the lecture final and a much lower score for the lab final. All in all, I suggest you take Bryan. He's an excellent professor.

Mealy is hands down my favorite teacher at Cal Poly thus far. He is genuinely concerned that you know your stuff and doesn't bombard you with busy work just for you to earn a grade. He doesn't lecture you through every detail before you get your hands on the lab. He gives you the basics and then lets you try it out. Then he answers any questions you have as you get into the thick of things and when actually understand what you are doing with the information! Pros: Funny, Knows his stuff(he wrote the text book!), Very relaxed attitude Cons: If you have severe motivation problems, his lack of required assignments may hurt you. If you need homework and lab reports to force you to learn, you may want a different teacher. Other than that I can't think of why you wouldn't want Mealy!

This guy is overrated. He stopped caring as much as he used to and he's often confusing. Doesn't clearly tell you what he wants and expects you to know everything already. I would not recommend this professor. If you could take someone else, take someone else!

lol stay away fam

To Start off, Bryan knows extensively about digital design and VDHL, he even wrote the book that you use in the course. Some of the things that I did not like in terms of the course was the amount of flexibility found in the teaching, it was too flexible. This is a self study course and by self study I really mean it. He tells you the very basics of the days learning objective and then give you the rest of the time to work on the lab and ask questions. There were no midterms or quizzes to aid you in your learning/help you keep on track. He simply said to do as many or as few problems in the back of the book as you wish for each reading section(which would range from 2 chapters to 4 chapters per lab). For this course however you really want quizzes and midterms so that you can for a fact know what is going on as it seems to get hectic at points. The labs add up to 20% of your grade, and finals (lecture and lab) cover 80%. Going over his past finals I can see why people on here were eager to tell you to take Bryan for this course, but comparing it to now, unless you do not have the experience of teaching yourself a good portion/all of the material without the aid of your professor to reinforce it, I would suggest taking another professor. Bryan is a good guys and will help you out when you need it, but before enrolling in one of his classes you need to be honest with yourself if you think you will be able to keep yourself up to date with the material, self assigned homework, the reading, and labs. If not you will have trouble in this course and may not even pass it.

To be completely transparent, I was one of the few students in my class who was actually eager to learn about VHDL prior to taking this course. That not with standing, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Mealy's class (though I know that was not a universal sentiment). He presents the material every day and ensures you are prepared for the lab to follow. During lab he and his TA's are always around and able to help. If you actually want to learn the subject material it is very easy to do so. But here is the tough part, grading. As of Spring '16 Mealy had just finished revising the format of his course and the two finals (yes you will have two separate finals during finals week) are weighted at 80% of your overall grade. The first half of the quarter is only 5% and the rest is labs in the second half. This grading style worked excellently for me, because it meant it was not a big deal if I did not complete a lab or 2. That said, the finals are not particularly difficult and it is definitely possible to get an A in this course if you actually care.

SO BAD

He has a clear dislike for admins. I don't know how he has such a high rating, but if you notice, many of his reviews are from past years. His class is difficult with new labs given every class meeting. This means that 3 new labs are assigned each week for the whole quarter. It is quite easy to get swamped. Furthermore, the lab final is worth 30% and the lecture final is worth 50%. All in all, it was a pretty stressful class.

I took this course Fall of 2018, and Mealy had a very different style than many other professors. Like others have said, it is important to note that he doesn't assign homework or have midterms. It's only labs (14 of them) assigned throughout the quarter. There are optional quizzes every week in his class. What worked for me in his class was to TAKE THE QUIZZES. If you take the quizzes and can pass them every week, it really helps keep you on track. Also, taking quizzes lessens how much the finals are worth, so that helps if you don't want to have your finals worth 80% of your grade. For me, taking the quizzes and asking lots and lots of questions helped keep me on track during this course. Make sure you and your lab partner work together on the labs and get them within a few classes so that you don't fall behind. My partner and I fell behind a bit on labs near the end of the quarter and this hurt us because we were behind for the rest of the class. If you do the experiments fully and understand them, you will pass the course. Mealy told me that the only people who fail are the kids that truly don't know the material at all. He curves the finals a good amount, so even if you get 50% or 60%, you can still pass. This class is manageable, but you have to really be on top of it and come to all the lectures if you want to get anywhere near an A.

Bryan is an awesome instructor. He is a fair grader and does an excellent job of helping students in lab. The only complaint I have is that sometimes he can be hard to hear because he speaks softly. That shouldn't deter you though. I liked him so much that I am taking CPE 229 from him next quarter.

Brian really likes digital design but more than that, he likes to teach it really efficiently. He does rely on a lot of VHDL so make sure you pay attention to his mini lectures on it. He knows that the book is crap and that the lecture and lab classes are totally out of sink. The labs are straightforward, he grades them easy. However, the final was a bit challanging. So if you want to learn digital design well, take Brian.

He's a nice guy...However, He is very shy about being in front of a class. He always points out his mistakes and apologizes for things that other teachers would just tell students to deal with. By the end of the quarter I could tell that his teaching abilities developed. By the way, our grade comes from 2 midterms (30% each) and one final (40%).

This was his first time teaching 219 in a few years. I thought he went over the material very clearly and always let us know what to expect on the tests. I never did the HW or the reading, but I did pay attention in class. He is also easy to get in touch with if you have any questions.

Bryan Mealy was a new professor the quarter I took him. Obviously, there are thing's he'll have to learn. He's an okay professor. He presents all the material in class and if you keep up you should have no problem. He doesn't collect or grade homework. For this reason, I didn't do it, and therefore got screwed on the exams. He doesn't really talk about the homework at all, which is why I didn't do it. Anyway, a little bit about his character. He's a quiet guy to begin with. He also never wears shoes. Seems like he came right out of the hippie era. He's actually quite a cool guy and he does actually know his stuff quite well, but he fails to prepare his class for the exams properly. And he's a VERY harsh grader. I walked out of the midterm thinking I aced it and I realized later I got a sub-C grade! He actually made a mistake on the grading, so I talked to him and he fixed it and now I have a C, but that's still below my standards! Anyway, I hear the other prof for this class sucks. Taking Mealy isn't really that bad, you just can't underestimate his exams. Also, be sure to go to his office hours often. Several people I know got their tests raised a letter grade or two just by going to his office to talk about it!

I have never had a professor like Mealy. He was great. He really goes out of his way to help you in any way he can. He truly cares, and as long as you care also, you can get an A. He puts everything online, he understands what concepts are difficult, and his tests are open notes/book. He was one of the best professors I have had so far. I will take him again if I can.

Mealy is like a rough jewel- he knows his stuff extremely well, he just needs a little polishing. He seemed very nervous in the beginning of the quarter, but he calmed down as the quarter went on. He was very supportave of extra projects in lab, and very willing to accept problems with the labs and suggestions on making them better. I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend him.

Brian is a great professor. He has everything posted that you need to learn, every single resource available that's needed, him included. If you can't make his office hours, he'll schedule some time (most of the time he's in the office anyway). The only way to actually fail the class is to do nothing, so please don't be surprised if you're thinking that you can go into 219 and twiddle your thumbs and expect to do well on the exams. By the way, if you have a question feel free to ask -- he'd rather explain it 17 times than have you not understand it. His biggest problem (and I know this since we discussed it in his office) is that people don't bother to come there and get educated, even though their grades are on the line.

Bryan is such an awesome guy, although some people say he's like a hippie I really don't care. He's really laid back, and his lectures are really easy to follow and explains things so well. In case you miss his lecture or want to study, he posts all his notes on Blackboard so you can print them out and follow along in class. No homework due, but he does assign stuff for you to practice with, and even gives you study guides. 2 midterms, 3 quizzes, and a final is what you'll have to take. Quizzes are very simple - the midterms and final is easy if you understand the material (not just how to do certain problems, because he throws new problems and curveballs at you, but they are do-able). The best thing is that the midterms and final is all open book and notes!! BOTTOM LINE - TAKE MEALY OVER EVERYONE ELSE, this guy is passionate about his work, will teach and help you out, and gets excited when a student finally gets something - which is just what a teacher really should be like!

Bryan Mealy was one of the best professors i have had in CalPoly. He presents the material very clearly, and helps a lot in office hours. He grades fairly too. His notes on the web are a very very good resource. He knows his stuff. The class was awesome. I would highly recommend him to anyone taking this class.

Who wouldn't relate to his shoelessness, its awesome... (sandals, does he own any socks?) I took this course during the catalog change (01-03 -> 03-05) where I needed the course to fulfill the CPE319 requirement, having already taken CPE215 (which covered half this course's material, and CPE219 which covers about a third of it). Despite knowing most of the material beforehand I have gleaned many useful "down to earth" methods for problem solving that the majority of professors leave you to figure out yourself. Bryan is friendly and open; he accepts suggestions / corrections from his students with grace, even requesting that anyone with ideas share them. Few professors are able to maintain the respect of the class while admitting they don't know everything about the subject; most don't ever admit what we all know--they can't possibly know everything. Bryan handles this well. Details: he'd never taught the course before, had to use material that isn't well prepared over subjects that half the students have done, but the other half weren't prepared for. I have given no grade because I'm still taking the class and am confident I'm doing well (his grading couldn't be clearer).

The guy , who commented about Dr. Mealy below this comment, is a member of the Iraqi freedom force. Take him out if you see him. Otherwise, you will be "cut". He opposes freedom of speech really badly, definitely an FBI most wanted. The department will want him "life" or "dead".

Mealy is the best teacher at this school. He is one of those guys that doesn't really get mad, but he knows his shit really well. His tests are not too hard, usually about 75-80% average for each one I believe. He gives problems that make you think, but are very doable. I reccomend taking him for anything you can.

Bryan is a great professor for 229 and 269. He is really good at explaining things, he understands students' diffiulties, and he is always helpful anytime. The midterms and quizzes were pretty straight forward, eventhough they take up the whole time. The class average used to be very high. Final exam was harder than midterms. I'm a CSC major, and the EE stuff were a bit hard for me. That explains my grade. I would recommend everyone taking nobody but Mealy for CPE 229 and 269.

Without any objections, Bryan is the best teacher I have come across at Poly. Some would argue that people only say that just because the tests are open notes, but I would argue that he's a great teacher because he clearly explains the material in class/office hours and tries to make sure everyone understands it until he moves on. Office hours are great. I've had some teachers that barely give you the time of day, but he even listed some weekend office hours just in case you were struggling with something before a test/final. I would definitely say that he genuinely cares about his students passing his class with a good understanding of the course, which I definitely cannot say about other Poly profs. Take him if you can, you definitely won't regret it.

Mealey's been great to have as a professor this quarter. He's great at getting right at the important stuff and skipping the boring filler. Defiantly take a class from him if you get the chance.

Okay, I got an A-, and I am probably the least harware-inclined CSC around, and if I can get an A in this class, than anyone can. It's really thanks to Brian, though. He's the only guy to take for this class--it's too bad he doesn't teach it more often. He's worth a priority. If you want to see what the class is like, consider this: rather than use Sandige's material for the class (what a loss) (notice the sarcasm in the previous statement), Mealy developed his own material, and the lectures and handouts are sufficient for learning the material. The moral of the story is that he does invest a lot of time into the class so that you'll learn it well. The course is like three courses in one: the first third involves FSM design and should be really easy, especially to other CSC majors like myself. The middle third I found the toughest (though not exactly too tough)--if you have no experience in Computer Architecture, you might want to check out the online notes Brian provides. Usually, it's not too hard to figure out, because the notes are as clear as his lectures. The final third I found fun, and that involved Assembly Language programming. It's neat to figure out little tricks to get operations done. As for the testing stuff, he does provide practice tests and finals, and for the midterms and quizzes, I found his practice and homework problems to be easier than the tests. The final, though, was VERY tough, but you should be all right if you really know the material. Be sure that you know the material, though. I got 97-98% on the midterms and 80% on the final, so definitely know the conceptual aspects. All in all, this is NOT a hard class with Brian, and I would strongly encourage you to take it, but then again, don't take my word for it--check out the thirty million positive reviews below.

Bryan was a good and helpful instructor. However, I do not recommend Bryan for EE because his midterms and final are extremely tough! If you're not a CPE or CS, the programs for his lab might take a long time to write, and the programs you have to write for the final are hard also. Overall, if you want to learn something while having a teacher who cares, then definitely take Bryan. If you're not willing to work hard for this class, then take someone else :)

Bryan is a great instructor and a person. He is down to earth and always willing to help. He knows his stuff, and he explains it well. We had 3 quizzes, and they were kinda easy. I thought the midterms were a bit tough, and the final exam was really tough. Overall, a great professor. I highly recommend him.

Simply the best

The best professor you'll ever have. He gives very good lectures, he's very down to earth, pays close attention to how much the class is understanding, and puts ALL of the material on Blackboard, as well as lots of example tests and quizzes and problems. In lab, he's very helpful and knows what he's doing.

There is no comparison...you will not find a better EE teacher at Cal Poly. Bryan treats you like you're at a seminar and basically just want to learn the material, no bulls**t. Lectures are very helpful, and ALL the notes (and much more additional material) are on Blackboard. Tests are open-everything and of fair difficulty. If you've got the chance to take him, DO NOT pass this guy up.

If all the other professors use HIS notes, that must mean he IS the best.

Obviously if you have looked at Profesor Mealy's polyrating you should have signed up for his class without even reading the reviews but if you got this far I'll tell you more. Professor Mealy is one of the best professors at Cal Poly, period. He really wants his students to succeed and does everything he can to help them. I had both lecture and lab with him. Often we had to go to the open lab and work on the assignment for at least anther 2 hours and up to 5 or 6 for the labs during the second half of the quarter. This was due mostly to the nature of our lab group as opposed to the difficulty of the labs. Many people managed to finish with 3 hours. Profesor Mealy was almost always willing to stop by during his free time to help us out. He even skipped part of his office hours because no one was in his office and we needed to demonstrate our working lab. As far as the lecture goes Mealy can explain things much better than the "book". I say "book" because he does not require the use of the book even though all the other professors do. The reason he does this is because he has written notes that are so thorough and easy to understand that they should be the text book. I learned much more from his notes in 229 than I did from the book in 129. The lecture consists of 2 midterms, 3 quizes, and a final. The first test is mostly finite state machine (fsm) design and analysis. It is not hard but be sure to double check all your work because the majority of the class did worse than expected (ie. B instead of an A). The second test focuses a lot on computer design. The final has about one or two questions on the topics of tests 1 and 2 but the vast majority is about assembly language. The quizes are usually about 15 minutes long and are easier than the midterms. Sample quizes and tests are posted on blackboard and these are a pretty accurate representation of what the actual tests are like.

what a good teacher... I absolutely hated digital design because I had slivovsky for 129 but he turned it around and made 229 my favorite class last quarter... you have to be willing to put in some work but he makes his own instruction packets that teach you really well if you didn't go to clas so you don't need to buy a book... highly recommended

I love this man! Fuck the rest!

Great professor. His notes are awesome and he makes sure every student understands the material. If you have any difficulty whatsoever, he is totally approachable during office hours. His labs are fun and laid back and his grading scheme is good. He does curve if the class hasn't done too well for midterms. He does have quizzes that are really easy if you keep yourself up to date with the homework. He doesn't collect homework but posts solutions on Blackboard. He posts almost everything including answers to previous midterms. Take printouts of everything from Blackboard and make sure you understand the stuff and the class will be a breeze.

Mealy's a great professor and really helps you to get to know the professor. Test's are similar to the old one's he posts online, with some questions being solved the exact some way. Since tests are open notes, these questions were the easier points. Other questions made sure you paid attention to the lecture, or at least had a clear understanding of his notes.

Excellent professor, just wish I had him for the lab. I had Bell, although he gave me an A, but he is the biggest asshole i've ever met, make sure you take Mealy for lab. If you want to learn digital design you definitely need to take his class. He makes going to this interesting class a very good experience. I highly recomment to take all his notes from BB and put them into a binder. You can use it on the tests. I thought his test were fairly easy, just bring the binder.

Mealy is the best CPE professor I have had so far. He can actually teach the material, it's just too bad the school doesn't like that he has his own teaching style that works better than how Cal Poly wants the course taught. Mealy has open book and open note tests, and he even posts all his old tests. His new tests look identical to the old ones, as do the quizzes he gives which are closed book. If you take Mealy you are pretty much guaranteed a good grade and great understanding.

best CPE/EE teacher I've had so far! if you don't understand computers after you take bryan, then you never will

Pleasant man. His notes are like no others...they\'re simply amazing! And hilarious (don\'t know how he pulled that off, but he did). He\'s supper down to earth and acknowledges student concerns. Plus, he plays the bass! (check it out in his office). The material could get tough though, that is, if you\'re not fond of programming and the like (or if you happen to fall behind), so I strongly suggest you read up his notes and do his infamous Fun Problems from Hell (FPFH). The midterms looked closely to the FPFHs. Can’t say the same goes for the final…Now that’s a tough cookie to digest. He gets creative on that one, since, depending on your grade, he may choose to wave his magic wand (more like his magic bass!) and give you the grade you earned for the final (if need be). Which brings me to the next point of interest: If you run into problems during the quarter, I strongly suggest you visit him during his office hours (the sooner the better!) .You\'ll fall in love with him there, if you didn’t already. He\'ll put all his effort to bring you up to speed…just read my sob testimony…. I was pretty much bombing the class past the second midterm (took on too many EE classes that quarter + work…my fault only). *hints at a warning to those taking on big EE loads* In the past, I’ve had pretty bad office hour experiences. Most cases, I walked out of OH’s feeling stupid because the teacher made sure to make me feel stupid for asking what seemed absurd questions…Sooo, I avoided office hours up till CPE slapped me on the face. Since programming is definitely not my thing, and it was starting to look like a lost cause, I finally got the nerve to ask for help (especially after seeing my second midterm score). Though I was a bit nervous, I went up to the Meal-man and told him what was up. After I gave him my spiel, he didn’t blow me off and completely understood where I was coming from. He helped me continuously till the final. Heck, he held office hours the Sunday before the final and spent plenty o’ more hours out of his spare time than he should have helping a line of students, including my sorry self…Telling you, the guy is popular for a reason. Now that’s a teacher that cares! Gotta experience the Mealy Factor! That is all….

I had Bryan this past quarter (W2013) for 233. While it wasn't that hard, it didn't help that it was his first time teaching the course. As a result, he had some trouble answering some questions, and also explaing some concepts. Pros about him: He's a really, REALLY chill professor. If you're having trouble with something, he won't get annoyed at you for not understanding. He'll work with you until you understand it better. His midterms and final are reasonable. He gives you relevant materials to use, such as the RAT Assembler manual and the diagram of the RAT architecture. In conclusion, Mealy is a great professor who I feel just needs a bit more experience teaching 233.

Bryan is massively important. He's one of the best professors at poly. Bryan only wants you to understand what's going on and doesn't bother you with "administrative" stuff. Quizzes are reasonable and his old practice exams seem pretty straight forward. Great teaching style, funny, and helpful attitude for learning. HIGHLY RECOMMEND HIM.

Bryan is by far my favorite teacher at Cal Poly. He helped me so much not only in the class, but also figuring where I want to be in 5 years and suggesting ways to get there. Bryan took so much time to help students with any issues they were having and also had the lab open for several hours before and after class so we could come and work on our labs. I took advantage of that as I came to class an hour early and left an hour late. Bryan is definitely someone I would recommend for any class. He definitely knows his stuff and his first priority is to make sure you know and understand the material. I took this class Fall Quarter of 2013, and he did weekly quizzes instead of any exams (besides the final). These quizzes were fair; you had to think about the answer--it wasn't a matter of memorizing anything. Professor Mealy has been a great mentor to me though out this class, and I wouldn't hesitate to take another one of his classes. My biggest advice would be to ask questions. No question is considered dumb to Mealy, and he loves to get a difficult question thrown at him.

Take this professor. Bryan isn't trying to keep his class grade average a certain level or meet any bullshit administrative quotas. In fact Bryan is pretty anti-administration which is awesome because the administration side of Cal Poly truly is the worst thing about this school. Bryans main goal is to make sure you learn and he puts forth a great effort and attitude to achieve just that. Bryan got me really interested in the embedded side of electronics and makes the class really fun. Bryan Mealy has been my favorite professor of Cal Poly thus far, take his classes whenever possible.

Bryan is by far one of the best professors that I've had. He really cares about the students and making sure that they learn. During lab you can see him running from group to group trying to help as many people as possible. This is not an easy class. You have to take two finals a Lecture (40% of final grade) and a Lab final (25% of final grade) given during two different times slots. Even though the final is worth 65% of your grade, it is very fair. Try not to fall behind on the labs and you should be fine. This will give you more time to work on the final project and not have to stress about it during finals week.

I've had Bryan for CPE 133 and 233, and he is definitely one of my favorite professors at Cal Poly. He is an excellent lecturer, and is very approachable when you have the inevitable confusing moment(s). That being said, CPE 233 is not an easy class. You will usually spend between 8-12 hours a week on the labs (including lab/lecture time). It's really important that you don't fall behind. The class can be really overwhelming at first, but it all comes together at the end. Don't be afraid to ask for help! The finals are 65% of the class, but they are pretty fair. You need to have a complete understanding of what you are doing to ace them. Luckily, Bryan makes understanding the material very easy. Definitely take him if you can.

The lectures were very scattered. There were days where we just didn't have lecture because he forgot to prepare. However, the book is well-written and he is interested in making sure everyone takes something out of the class. The stuff in the lectures don't really come up until you take the finals (which are at the very end of the quarter). There's no midterms or due dates really, so time management is super important. Also, be aware that the class starts pretty quickly and you kind of jump into the class not really knowing what's going on in the first experiment (reading the book ahead of time can be helpful for understanding what's going on if you don't already have prior knowledge).

Mealy is a hilarious guy, if a little strange. He has this idea in his head that we kind of already knew everything he was teaching so sometimes he would kind of gloss over it and later we'd realize that it was super important. You HAVE to ask him questions because otherwise he'll just power through the lecture at a crazy pace. We never had homework, never had required readings (although you should definitely do them because it's incredibly helpful). We had lab reports, but they were always out of 10 and were worth almost nothing overall. For those lab reports, we'd just call him over to our table and run all of our answers by him, he'll either say we're right or correct us so it's hard to mess up reports. No midterms but the finals on the other had were kind of a drag. There was a lab final that had 30 questions that were all short answers about what various parts of the assembler were and terms. The lecture final was pretty hard, some assembly programming and hardware manipulations. I absolutely loved this class and Mealy was a spot on professor, take him if you can!

Don't know how Mealy has such a high grade on polylearn but he doesn't deserve it. Throughout the course I was struggling to grasp the material of the class but Mealy or his assistants never explained it well. If you understood CPE 133 fully, you're going to do well in this class. But if you didn't, DON'T TAKE MEALY. He basically works with students who are fast learners. If he tried to explain something to you, he expects you to know it instantly. If you don't he gets ticked and repeats the same thing he said before expecting you to know the second time. Also for his labs, he graded them so harshly that you would need a computer science degree to get a perfect score. He expects everything to be perfect on the lab reports, so just be prepared to never leave out anything. During lectures, he would skim past the powerpoints quickly with little explanation. The finals were hard, so study for them. I only studied for a few days because of the lack of time and I had to finish the last experiment, so don't slack off! Study a week or two before the finals. To be honest, I wish I never spent most of my time trying to finish the labs when the finals for this class were worth 80% of the total grade. I regret not going to his office hours during finals week to clarify some things and this resulted in my failure in this class. This review may be a little bias, so don't count it as a recommendation to not take mealy. I'm going to have to retake this class again, and it's not going to be with Mealy though.

AVOID THIS PROFESSOR AT ALL COST! AVOID! I don't understand why he has such a high polyrating. He is honestly the worst professor I've had at Cal Poly. He doesn't teach, always canceling class, expects you to just know how to do everything. He looks at the slide examples, then say oh I don't want to do this and then skips through several slides. He's so bad at lecturing that I don't know why he even bothers to lecture at all. His lectures are pretty much useless. He made me HATE CPE, and he's the reason why I transferred out of CPE. This was my worst experience ever. In addition, he makes the final 80% of your grade so if you don't understand the material well enough or don't grasp on to all the material, you're pretty much screwed over. AVOID THIS PROFESSOR AT ALL COST! AVOID!

Bryan is a cool guy. He's extremely knowledgeable and knows the class inside and out. He's helpful when you ask him about stuff and his tests are well written. Don't be worried by the weighting of the finals, they're not that bad and he still curves. There are problems though with his class. He has to deal with way too many benches, which means his time is split up into tiny tiny pieces with each group. The TAs are sometimes super helpful and at other times completely unhelpful. The lectures aren't the best and sometimes just feel pointless. However, a lot of the final material does come from various lectures so pay attention when he says that it will be on the final. Overall I'd recommend him.

The way the class is set up is pretty straightforward, do the labs and you get 20% of your grade. After that, you get two finals based off of all the stuff pertaining to the labs and concepts behind it and that is 80% of your grade. He gives you all the information and its pretty straightforward and he presents it well. The labs are all pretty easy and build on the previous ones, but its really easy to just fall behind. Dont fall behind and do the labs- youll be set.

* Be careful. Whether or not you think Mealy is a good professor very much depends on what kind of teaching style works for you. If you like most of your learning to occur during one-on-one time with the professor (when you can get it), then he is probably your kind of teacher. He is very good at engaging his students in that way, but he doesn't have time to make it around to everyone with questions, even though he does literally run from group to group. He is eager for his students to learn a lot in the class and puts an emphasis on the fact that you need to have complete understanding of the material to do well. At the same time he'll tell you what you need to know and what you don't need to know for the tests with a few oversights here and there (a few topics he said would not be covered on the test were on it). Now for the reasons to beware: I am surprised that Mealy has such a high rating and doesn't put off more students. One of the main things that sucks is that the final portion of your grade is 80% - Eighty. Percent. You do A LOT of work for the class and turn in a lot of reports throughout the quarter, but the vast majority of your grade is determined by "your skills and abilities during finals week." Two finals, 5 hours, 80%. That's just mean. With respect to his actual teaching style, he hurries through his lectures and skips slides, while the slides that he doesn't skip last maybe 30 seconds as he quickly rattles off his thoughts. He will pause every once in a while to say "any questions or comments?" but will hurry on quickly if no one musters the courage to ask a question within 2 seconds. He also looks for very specific answers when grading your work. If you didn't do something the way he would have done it, it's probably "wrong." He won't be able to figure out whether what you did actually works if it's not identical to his. Anyway, his teaching style does not work for everyone, and I am surprised that it seems to work for so many. He will seem a bad professor to some students and a great professor for others. Don't avoid him if the description above doesn't sound so bad. But you've been warned.

Mealy was a really helpful lab professor. The labs themselves are either really straight-forward or really complicated to understand. On the harder ones Mealy will sit down with you and help you understand the main idea it is trying to tell you. He grades the labs fairly easily, I think the lowest I ever got on them was 17/20. There is one lab final, which is kinda hard but if you understand most of the main points of the labs, the conceptual questions on the lab final isn't too tough. Take Meally for lab, it will really be a walk in the park if you put even 1/2 of the effort into it.

It's been said before, and it will probably continue to be said for a long time: Mealy is awesome. He could run circles around Sandige, the senile old cowboy whos only qualification for being here is that he wrote the damn book. But I digress. The lab final was challenging yet fair. He knows when you get the concepts, even if you have a wierd anomaly in your program that makes something show up slightly wrong. And he's always willing to help you out. Take Mealy, you won't regret it.

Mealy is the man. Great in lecture, great in lab. His experiments were very helpful, and they mostly avoided busywork and drudgery. As you might be aware, there are two sets of experiments for this course: Sandige's and Mealy's. If you liked Digital Design Essentials, you would probably like Sandige's version. For everyone other than Sandige and Sandige's wife, mother and kids (if he has any)(kids, that is), Mealy's stuff is the way to go. No wonder all the other profs (save Sandige) use his material. He puts some real thought into his experiments, and the coverage of important concepts from lecture is there. Though they tended to be on the long side, the experiments were invaluable for learning the material. The only minus for the class would have to be the lab final--he asks some really obscure questions. I would recommend reading all of the lab write-ups before it, as well as Mealy's lab intros, because a lot of it was clear out of the blue. Mealy is a must for this class, as well as for 229.

If you are taking CPE 269, take Mealy, and no one else. He is really knowlegable, helpful, and generous with grades. Fun guy to talk to also.

Smart, funny, helpful, definitely take him if you can. I only wish i had him fro 229 as well.

This guy could be the most caring professor at Cal Poly. He is damn god at what he does and thats getting students to understand the material he teaches. I would recommend any class by him. The material isnt important....he will make you understand it in a way that wont stress you out. Mealy is awesome

Mealy is one of the best teachers ive ever had. He not only made the material easy to learn for those that are not CPE majors but made it interesting as well. His tests were fair but you need to know your stuff. His office hours are the most helpful and he usually hints at what will be on the test. TAKE MEALY!!!!

Bryan made this an awesome class, but it needs to be a bit more organized. The experiments get you learn microcontrollers and you do some pretty cool stuff, which are similar to the EE 329 experiments. We didn't get to do an open-ended project because we ran out of time. The course as a whole was awesome because I hardly spent any time outside of class and I still learned a lot about microcontrollers. The tests are designed so you hardly have to study as long as you understand the experiments.

What the guy/gal below said. Amen. I too took this class and have long since graduated from Poly, but I was cruising Poly Ratings for a kick and thought that I should pipe in and let you know how much of a joke this prof is.

GREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT!!

this is the second time that I have had Mealy as an instructor. This guy has to be the best prof. they have on the EE/CPE staff. He presented the material very clearly and he was learning along with us because he had never taught this course. He was always prepared and he is very straightforward. The class was fun and interesting, but Mealy put his whole heart into it and made it meaningful. If there was any question that he could not answer right away, then he would research it and get back to you with a solid answer. The tests were fair and his grading style on the projects were uplifting.

Dr. Mealy is by far the best CPE instructor I've ever had. Heck, he won't even allow us to call him Doctor, only by his name, Bryan. Trust me, call him Dr. Mealy and he'll make sure to correct you. He does a lot for his students. His classes are never boring. His grading is not based on tests, but whether you learned anything. You will definitely not regret. All that's needed to be said about Bryan has been said already, just read the other reviews. Rock on Bryan!!!

Dr. Mealy is one of the best professors that Cal Poly has to offer.