Hatalsky, Paul  

Professor Hatalsky did an excellent job of conveying the material to us. I fully understood everything he was saying and he did a great job of answering questions and explaining concepts. Needless to say this was not an easy course (I think it has something like a 20 - 30% fail rate) but I feel that for the most part if you are determined to pass this class you can do it. The final / midterms were all fairly straightforward. I made the mistake of rushing through the final and ended up with a C+ on it. One thing to watch out for is the tricky project programs that he will make you write. Hatalsky made us incorporate his programs that abstractly linked the material we were learning. For instance we had to write an instance messaging program where he provided the client application and network infrastructure and we were responsible for creating the client server. All and all Halatasky is a great guy and a great teacher and I recommend taking him Good luck

CPE101 is essentially him collaborating with Professor Workman, all the assignments are not graded by them. Instead the computer grades them, which means any errors you have wont get fixed for a long time. The labs are extremely tedious. The projects are nightmares. The midterm are not happy moments. The final is hard. If your taking his class, get ready to spend countless sleepless nights. And accept the fact that you are probably not going to get an B, much less get an A. Be happy with a C.

Hatalsky is by far the best professor that I have had so far at Cal Poly for many reasons. First off, he actually knows what he's talking about and can explain concepts in more than one way so if the way he presents the information the first time just doesn't work for you, you're not stuck in his office hearing him repeat it the same way over and over again. Additionally, he is ALWAYS available for help because he recognizes that this class, being the first actual programming experience that most people have, is hard. Lastly, he is just always super cheerful and excited in a really honest and genuine way. As for the way the class works: while you can honestly get by without doing the reading, the weekly labs are invaluable practice for both the projects and the midterms, and make sure to actually do the practice problems before the midterms as they help A LOT. If you remember nothing else, remember this: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE as the projects build upon each other and get progressively harder as the quarter goes on and GO TO THE EXTRA TUTORING because those people are amazing and can help you more immediately than just waiting around for Hatalsky to get back to your e-mail (which he will, but sometimes it's just better to have a more immediate answer).

Professor Hatalksy was really helpful, I am so grateful that I was able to take him for 101. He presented material clearly, and was able to answer all of our questions. He is pretty strict on due dates, there were only a couple of times where he pushed them back for us, but they are pretty reasonable. If I had to take another CPE class, I would take Hatalsky.

Hatalsky was bomb. Lectures were clear, and the projects were tough but doable (especially project 3 aka sudoku of death). I loved the lab section since it was pretty much either demo or Q/A, and they provided a lot of debugging help as well. 100% recommend.

He is a good teacher but he makes his projects incredibly hard and as a first time coder, almost impossible. He is really willing to help but his assignments are just insanely difficult. The midterms were alright, straightforward much like the practice problems. The final was way easier than the midterms. Overall he is a good teacher, but doesn't understand how difficult it is on students. Also a tough grader.

Super chill guy, class was a bit tough since he makes the labs/projects he assigns harder than everyone else's, but he teaches the material well. It's definitely easier to take another professor, but if you want to learn the most then take Hatalsky.

Hatalsky was the best introduction to computer science I could have asked for. The projects were tough. I had to spend a lot of time outside of class to get my projects just right. Since the entire grading process is automated online, you don't have to worry about him giving you a bad grade objectively like you would in an English or a Coms class, or even in later math classes. It's just a matter of if your code follows every thing mentioned in the specifications. The exams were pretty hard as well. However, he gives you plenty of practice problems ahead of time, and if you know those and can do them well, then you'll be fine for the exam. Other than that, highly recommend. He is helpful and awesome.

Hatalsky is a great teacher. I have had him twice. He is great at conveying material. I would take him over most all other lower-level CS teachers.

He's pretty new. He has trouble explaining things to you, which makes things difficult sometimes. If it weren't a "common" class I don't think it would have gone as well as it did. Overall, nice guy, willing to stop and explain, just has a bit of trouble doing so.

phatalsk was pretty good 101 professor. his grading was fair and hw load was about somewhere between light-mid. lectures were boring and he wasnt the best guy explain certain concepts but he did take extra time to go over so everyone understood everything. as long as u stay on track and complete all the assignments like projects and hw, u should at least pass the class

I don't understand the comments here about Professor Hatalsky not knowing his material. He presented the C material in a format that was easy to pick up. I had very little formal programming knowledge before this class: most of what I knew I had taught myself over the course of CPE 123, and I had no experience whatsoever in C. I can understand that people might have a tough time with the class if they didn't spend enough time learning the basics of programming, but if you pay attention in the important first few weeks, everything else can come pretty easily.

He is a great teacher, he helped me prepare for the final very well. He is very friendly in office hours!

can't teach doesnt know python. doesnt help you at all

he is a very great teacher. he is very funny (made some pretty funny jokes and picked on me all the time but i didnt mind, i thought they were super funny) taught the material clearly and is extremely helpful in office hours. 101 can be a tough course specially after asgn 4 but he really wants everyone to suceed. take him, i loved him, dont pay attention to the bad reviews. its just the pissed of little freshmen who weren't willing to work hard. It is a tough class tho if you haven't coded before haha. good luck! and take paul.

I took this class back in 2014 when this class was for C. He was able to explain the language very well and was very understanding. I would definitely take him again if I had the chance.

Fuck this guy. Dont take this fuckface.

Hard grader, but knows what he's doing and is always there to help. Highly recommend

Hatalsky is the most sexist professor at Poly. Chooses favorites. He can suck a bag of dicks honestly.

Really good prof. Good projects and good help outside of lec.

Hatalsky is very good at teaching CS at a low/intro level. He is clear, takes questions frequently, and always provides clear instructions on what is expected. If you enjoy coding, the projects shouldn't be impossible, but they may take lots of time/effort to complete. I found that the midterms were both really easy. The final was a common final and was a little bit more difficult than I expected, but Hatalsky provides lots of practice/review for the final. I'm not sure why his score isn't higher. I highly recommend taking him.

Hatalsky is a really good lecturer. He writes code and explains concepts on the white board and also runs code on his computer to show the class. He goes slow enough for students to really comprehend and provides a lot of examples and answers questions well. In lab, he is not as great. He is ok if you ask him maybe one question he might give a helpful answer, he might not offer any useful information at all, but every time I would ask multiple questions he seemed impatient and upset that I did not get my code working after his last bit of advice. His tests wereeasy and he graded them fairly. He grades assignments with computer tests so if you test your code well you will do well on all labs and projects. He is an overall good professor; there is no need to avoid him. You might have to go to CS tutoring though if you want any real help with your code.

I took this class back in Spring 2014, but I wrote a review awhile ago and never posted it until now: In his CPE 102 class, he always gave clear examples of core concepts such as linked lists and sorting algorithms. He also always drew diagrams for these examples, which made understanding them a lot easier. If a student is having trouble, he is always willing to help and never loses his patience. If you have a question, he is very approachable in either lab or office hours. I remember having trouble with the transition between using C and Java during the first 2 weeks of class, so I went to his office hours one Friday and he ended up clearing up a lot of the confusing concepts of the first project. During the later projects, especially the 3rd and 4th, I had several questions dealing with debugging my code, and every time I emailed him a question he responded within a matter of minutes or a few hours, never giving me the straight answer but always pointing me in the right direction. Professor Hatalsky was the first CSC/CPE professor I had here that actually knew how to teach and present the material well, and who was also very approachable in office hours or through email. He was always enthusiastic in his lectures and made the concepts interesting to learn about. Take him if you can!

He's great 10/10 would recommend. Nice guy, great at answering questions, and good at lecturing.

Hatalsky is a good professor, approachable and helpful in the office hours. However, his lecturing style sometimes is confusing and it is easy to find yourself sometimes lost. But for sure go to the office hours, he is a really nice guy and is willing to help you if you show interest. The thing about CPE-102 is that has annoying projects in my opinion. there could definitely more interesting projects, so the students feel more engaged in working on a cool project.

Hatalksy presents the material well, and helps teach material needed for the programs we need to hand in. If you go to class and pay attention to his lecture, it won't be hard to get at least a B. However, as with most compsci professors, the specifications for the programs for lab may be a bit unclear at times, and he does not explain what exactly is expected from the programs. As a result, numerous edge cases are left unexplained. In order to get 100% on programs, you would need to pass ALL the test cases the test driver contains, which is provided the day after it's due. As a result, it is difficult most of the time to get a 100%. As for assisting students with these issues, he does respond to questions on Piazza and to his emails--just don't count on him responding right away. Ultimately, Hatalsky is a great professor, but as with other computer science professors, he does challenge his students to try hard on developing programs and test cases.

He is a great professor overall. The tests can be a bit of a time crunch but the material is very fair. It is by no means an easy A, but you get what you put in. The projects and the labs are fun and he is helpful during lab sections. If you want to actually get a solid understanding of data structures then take 103 with Professor Hatalsky.

Awesome lecturer and very helpful and approachable. I think the only reason his ratings aren't higher is that people don't put in the effort to do well. The workload is pretty heavy and he tells you that day 1, but if you stay on top of it it's not very difficult to do well. His midterms are very fair if you pay attention in lecture and complete the labs and projects. Also, every project can be turned in a day early for 10% extra if you pass all the tests. Always take this opportunity as it's essentially a free run through the test driver to see which methods you still need to fix bugs in. Overall a really fun class with really interesting lectures. Definitely don't think you'll get a better understanding of data structures from anyone other than Professor Hatalsky.

Are you good at programming? Take him, you'll love him. Are you just okay at it or do think you would ever need help? Run. Run far far away. I can see why people think he's good (he is if you're good at programming), but if you don't understand something, he doesn't really take the time to teach it to you again, you're pretty much on your own. Not to mention his really snarky attitude if you ask something he thinks you should already know. While in the end I still did totally fine in the class, I don't feel like I have a great understanding of the material that was supposed to be taught. The final is unnecessarily hard as well, I'm really not sure why he did that. Just take someone else if you're not already a pro at this stuff.

I really enjoyed having Professor Hatalsky. He presented material very clearly, and he didn't rush through any of the concepts he covered. 103 is a decent amount of work, but Hatalsky often explained the general algorithm for the assignments, making it clear how we were to complete them. I would definitely recommend Professor Hatalsky.

Alright professor. Dont take him for 103 because his assignments are really fucking difficult. Highly suggest avoiding him and taking someone else teaching 103. Hes barely helpful in office hours and doesnt allow for any leeway in grading.

This dude is a fuck cant teach for shit and looks like a slob

Pros: Professor Hatalsky is GREAT in lecture. He presents the material very clearly and at a good pace. For each new topic/data structure, he usually explains it, then draws a representation on the board, and then shows the code. He goes through each new topic thoroughly and is very responsive to student questions. This guy is seriously one of the best professors in lecture I have ever had. Cons: The workload is insane. He tells you early on that it is a lot of work and he isn't kidding. It wasn't uncommon for me to spend 25 hours on this class in a single week. Like others have said, the lab and project specs can be confusing and extremely misleading. There were a couple of labs and projects where I didn't get full credit because I thought he was asking for X but what he really wanted was Y. For one of our projects we were given a test driver without all the correct files, so people were randomly failing tests. Then he updated the test driver and it still didn't work properly. I don't think I've ever been as frustrated with a class as I was for this one. Short version: Awesome in lecture. Projects are confusing and extremely frustrating. Workload is extremely high. You will learn the subject matter extremely well, but you will hate your life while doing it.

This is a hard class, he tells you that at the start. However, he presents the material well, offers some extra credit, and his lecture is really well done. He's an honest guy and really an intelligent professor. I believe the class is curved in the end and so its hard, yet can be pretty forgiving.

Hatalsky is an all around great professor. I took him for 101, 102, and 103 and had a great and valuable experience each time.

paul is a nice person how really wants you to do well. However, this is the only real upside to this class. This was his first quarter teaching 141 and it definitely showed. His lectures made sense if you could stay awake but when it came time to do the HW his lectures were little help. He either covers the basics in lecture or not at all. He doesnt teach how to do the more complex problems that he ends up putting on his midterms and are found in the homework. Speaking of which, the midterms were complete rip offs of prof Ignadios. paul uses the same book, and Extremely similar midterms to ignadios but in an effort to make the class his "own" he adds material that the other sections dont even cover!!! Overall he is trying to teach the class but really isnt experienced enough with the material to teach it well. Im sure he is a good CPE 10X teacher but he is definitely not a CSC 141 teacher!!!

Paul is an adorable man. I love the timid guy that he is. He taught this class for the 1st time and it showed, but he tried to present the material as well as he could. I learned more from lectures that I did the book. His mid terms and finals are very very long though but I think that was only because he didnt know how long to make them. I reccomend taking him because he'll only get better teaching the material.

Even though I did poorly in the class, I felt that Paul presented the material well. He makes himself very available to students and is generally a fun guy. A+

First off, Paul is a great guy. He's nice and genuinely cares about the students. I've had Prof Hatalsky for two classes now, CPE101 and CSC 141. This previous quarter the CSC department did not offer enough 141 classes along with CPE102, so he was the teacher of the added 141 section and I quickly switched. He explains material clear, and notices when the class isn't understanding a certain topic. He will take the time to make sure the class understands before moving on. His tests and quizzes are straight forward and don't really contain problems that are harder than the ones you've already seen before. He makes himself very available to students through email and office hours, and before/after lectures. His first homework assignment that he gives for all classes is taking your picture in his office, so you know where his office is. Whether you take advantage to his always open help is up to you. CSC141 is a hard class, and I haven't seen many sections where they weren't two hour twice a week block schedules. 141 is a boring topic(there is no denying it), and this schedule doesn't suit it well. Although this was his second quarter teaching 141, he did a much better job than other professors. Two hour lectures of Discrete Mathematics aren't fun, not Hatalsky's teaching style. Only negative would be that he didn't relate 141 to actual Programming enough I suppose. But it is very hard to do so, the material covered in the class is already larger than the alloted hours. Great teacher, unfortunately he is not teaching CPE103 next quarter, hopefully Mammen is then.

Professor Hatalsky is... interesting. He's not a bad teacher, he's just not fantastic, either. The lectures in class felt very bland and pointless, and I rarely felt like I was actually learning anything. Now, I give Professor Hatalsky some leeway, because this feeling of dullness to the entire class is probably very greatly in part to the fact that CSC 141 is the most useless course ever created.<br><br>Hatalsky does get some props, however, for the fact that the class felt pointless. That bears some clarification: The class was not engaging at all, but it was not engaging because everything Hatalsky would present on the board feels like something completely obvious and makes you say on the insides, "Well, DUH! That's obvious!" This is to his CREDIT, though, not to his detriment. The book for Discrete Mathematics is loaded with ridiculous terminology that convolutes simple things. Trying to figure out what you're supposed to be doing by reading the book is like trying to thread a brick through a needle: it just doesn't work. Still, Hatalsky could be more engaging in lecture or at least made a competent jab at relating things to computer science and I might have cared about the class just a little more...

The material for this class is BORING, plain and simple. Paul does his best to teach it, hes seems to rush to cram all the material in throughout the quarter so missing class is pretty painful usually. Books is pretty much necessary since Homework is graded. Doing the homework helps a whole lot for the midterms and final, along with knowing everything about the weekly/biweekly quizes. Paul does an okay job teaching this material, but going to his office hours helps to make the class a little less painful.

Had no idea what he was teaching most of the time. He would postpone homework assignments so that he could go home and actually read the assigned work when we didn't understand it. Take, another, teacher.

Hatalsky warns you early on, \"DO THE HOMEWORK,\" FOLLOW HIS ADVICE, it\'s easier than you think not to. While I did not do as well as I had hoped I would, I still liked the class for some reason. If you\'re wondering wtf Discrete Structures is like I was, it\'s an interesting mix of math, logic, and some computer science. While I am definitely not one of those people that \"does proofs for fun,\" I did enjoy the lectures and even homework problems at times. Sit up front, pay attention, and go to office hours! Paul is a little distant maybe at times, but he\'s a nice guy. Ask questions, get things clarified, and be able to do the tough homework problems without flipping back to your notes, it\'ll save you on the tests. Overall I liked the class, but wish I had studied a little more and done more homework. It sounds stupid to warn of something you know, but really... do the homework, study for the quizes, study the quizes, go to office hours, and you\'ll be golden.

I hated taking this class, and what\'s worse is I\'ll have to take it again. I missed the VERY FIRST DAY, because I did not know that I had to take this class as a co-requisite with CPE 102. Big Mistake. Missing even one day in this class is like missing two days in another. Hatalsky goes really fast, through vague concepts I had never seen before. And his quizzes/tests are not easy to get even a C on, as each question, although largely similar in difficulty to the homework, is worth a lot of points. He really wanted us to pass the class, so much so that he actually dropped two quiz scores so we could do so. However, I still ended up bombing the tedious and overlong final, resulting in my grade not being good enough to pass the class. Thanks for no help, Hatalsky.

I wouldn\'t say Hatalsky is a great professor, but there are definitely much worse. He is a good professor in the way that every question he asks on a test or quiz he goes over in lecture or gives you in homework. People tend to do poorly in this class because they don\'t go to the lectures or don\'t do the homework (its not collected). I didn\'t do any of the homework but I went to class everyday and payed attention, but if you feel like your struggling you should do the homework. He\'s not the best lecturer but he\'s a nice guy and means well. This is a hard class and many people fail, but I wouldn\'t blame that on Hatalsky. If you take this class seriously you won\'t fail,but if you underestimate it\'s difficulty you\'ll crash and burn. Just spend 15 minutes a day going over what you did in class and you\'ll be fine.

Hatalsky is not an awesome teacher but he isn\'t horrible either. He\'s just okay. Like someone else who said this before, follow Paul\'s advice and actually DO the homework, even though it isn\'t collected, otherwise you will NOT, I REPEAT, NOT PASS THE CLASS OR WILL HAVE A VERY SMALL ROOM FOR PASSING. Yes, Discrete Structures is a boring class and Hatalsky may not make it more interesting, but it is necessary to pass it to do CPE 103, so actually put some effort to understand the material. He does, however, explain stuff fairly clearly and is pretty helpful in office hours, so make use of it when you need to. What can really help your grade, like it did for me, is that he drops your two lowest quiz scores and replaces the lowest of the following three with your final if it is higher: the average of the quizzes, midterm 1, and midterm 2. The midterms are fairly difficult though so make sure you clear up things you don\'t get beforehand. Follow this same advice for the final, because it is HARD and also very long.

Hatalsky is very average, and very boring. He sometimes gets confused while trying to teach, but I don\'t blame him, the entire course is confusing (and unnecessary). All you need to get out of it is the idea behind big-O and big-theta, which you use for algorithm analysis in CSC 103. Besides that, the class is a series of very simple quizzes and one very tough final.

Paul is not the best teacher, he has a hard time explaining the material to the class and does not answer questions very well. The lectures are very dry and do not teach you what you need for the homework and midterms. But really the material in this class is just boring and it is not because of him. All you really need to get out of the class is big-O and big-theta anyways. In general the class is not very hard and anyone should be able to pass it easily.

He\'s not the teacher to teach the class. I think he would do much better in another lecture setting, but Discrete Math is not a very interesting subject to begin with. He does try to get you involved and there are homework problems, but you only get graded on the quizzes and tests. If you have a choice to not take him for Discrete, don\'t.

Professor Hatalsky was amazing for CSC141. He\'s a funny guy, cracking jokes about the subject material. He\'s a fair grader, and cares about his students. He brought in cookies when handing back the midterms. As for the class itself, the material isn\'t easy as it\'s not about a few concise topics. Your grade depends mostly on how you do on the final: it\'s worth 40%, can replace your lowest out of two midterms, and as for the weekly quizzes, your two lowest get dropped. It is very important to stay up to date with the material, cause it\'s just not easy to grasp if it\'s your first time seeing it, however the class is enjoyable thanks to Professor Hatalsky!

This guy is the man. Discrete Structures is a pretty gross class, but he did a pretty great job with what he had. He booted the lowest quiz, gave us a take home quiz, and dropped the lower midterm if you did better on the final. In other words, he does everything in his power to help you succeed, but he does ultimately place you in charge of getting there. Do the homework is my #1 piece of advice other than going to office hours. This sounds like an unattractive option, but seriously, his office hours have been more helpful than any of my other professors so far. If you have to take this class, take it with Hatalsky.

Great teacher, easy but very varied class material. The problem with this class isn't the difficulty of each section of material he lectures on, its the variety of completely different things you must remember. Almost nothing in one section can be applied to the next section of material so you need to remember a lot of different things in order to do well on the midterm and final. If you have to take this class, Hatalsky is a very good teacher to take it with. Even though he doesn't curve, his exams are very fair. Quizzes are very easy, and if you pay attention in class you should get an A on every quiz. Homework is assigned but not collected. Doing at least some of the homework is a very good idea as a few exam questions and a lot of quiz questions are verbatim from the homework. In our class he dropped the lowest 2 quiz grades and if you do better on the final than on either of your midterms, then the lowest midterm grade gets replaced with your final grade. The class sucks, but if you have to take it, definitely take it with Hatalsky.

Probably the most boring class I have ever taken in my life, with the most boring subject material, and to go along with it, a below average professor. He makes "jokes" in class and reuses them in his other classes. The material isn't supposed to be that hard, but Hatalsky definitely makes it harder than it should be. He assigns homework, but doesn't collect it or grade it. BUT IF YOU WANT TO PASS THE CLASS YOU NEED TO DO IT!!! His quizzes are medium-hard, and he'll drop your lowest one. His midterms are very hard, so study, study, study. The finals is all multiple choice, except for 2 proofs, which may sound good, except that one of the choices for each question was "None of the above". In a logical math class, that is terrible. He doesn't curve anything, unless the average is very low. Avoid him if you can, because you will be extremely bored.

First thing you need to know is that CSC 141 is a boring topic. I think no matter who will teach this class it will still be extremely boring. Hatalsky is an average professor who knows his stuff but it is just hard to teach material that is this boring. His class was pretty intense grading wise. Midterms were 20% and you have two of them. Quizes were 20% which there were about 8 one every week, but he drops your lowest score. And the epic final which was 40%. His quizes are directly from the hw well most of the questions are. So DO THE HOMEWORK. What i did was i did the hw before the quiz and was able to remember the problems when the quiz came. His midterms were some what hard for me as i got D's on all of them. And the final was the hardest final i've ever taken in my life. I managed to escape with a C- which was the requirement to pass this class, because Hatalsky is just a nice person. On blackboard my grade was 66% and i was thinking i was going to fail, but when grades were posted my grade was a C- so i think that Hatalsky really wants us all to pass and he is just trying to teach us the material in the best way he can. Overall boring topic, hard class, but Hatalsky knows his shit.

Hatalsky is a great guy. He was really passionate and cheerful throughout the quarter. That being said, I don't know if he's the best teacher for the course. I am currently 1 week into retaking the class with another professor and already feel that he is much better at taking it slow when we need to. There are parts of this course that take 1 lecture, and parts that take 3-4. Hatalsky seemed to try to give the same amount of days for each topic instead of dividing up the time depending on the difficulty of the topics. Many times he also had to spend twice as long rereading his example problems as he did writing them to make sure they were correct (and half the time they weren't and we used valuable time redoing them). If you know this material or feel you will understand it easily, take Hatalsky, he'll give you a fun quarter. If, on the other hand, you don't know anything about this course, try to take another professor.

Hatalsky's tests are near impossible. The stuff he has you do on homework and in class are like baby problems. His two midterms added together make up 40% of your grade, and your final makes up 40% of your grade. Therefore, examinations make up 80% of your grade. He DOES NOT CURVE, and does NOT give much partial credt. It is extremely easy to fail this class. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!

I really liked Hatalsky. The material he presented in class made sense, and he was always more than willing to answer any questions. The material for this class is rather dull, but I often found the lectures interesting because of Hatalsky. He let us call him Paul and brought in cookies sometimes, too. If you want to do well in this class you HAVE to do the homework. There are quizzes every week and sometimes the questions come directly from the assignments (problems on the midterm/final can be pretty similar to these also). The midterms/final were fairly difficult, but they were definitely doable. If you do the homework thoroughly and actually put some effort in, this class isn't too bad.

Hatalsky is a decent teacher, not the best ever, but better than what most people say. 141 is a boring topic and its very hard to make it exciting, so Hatalsky did the best he could have done teaching it. Don't worry if you have him, you will do fine as long as you pay attention and do the homework.

Hatalsky is one of the best professors I've had at Cal Poly. Sure his tests were hard, but his teaching style made this class incredible. Hatalsky went over material in a clear and methodical manner. If you had a question about the homework, or the concept that was on the board, Hatalsky would take the time to clarify. He welcomed questions, and was never condescending in his answers. He ACTUALLY cared about teaching the subject matter. Homework could be long, and there was a weekly quiz. Both were graded, but only the higher score out of the two counted towards your grade. His tests were fair and representative of the material presented--no GOTCHA' BITCH! style of trick questions. Take Hatalsky, he has a natural aptitude for teaching.

Alright, so this quarter is not even over, and I have never despised a professor/teacher as much as I do Hatalsky. It is not that he is a bad person, he is nice and genuine. However, I am attempting to learn an extremely difficult and boring subject, and I do not need him cramming at least 10 concepts into a 50 minute lecture. When it is time to leave class he will cram one last concept it, just for the sake of saying that he taught it already and that he no longer needs to do it. He barely skims over each concept, and only provides extremely simple examples. I understand that we are supposed to be challenged on our own, however, that does not constitute that it is okay for him to falsely rely each concept. Oh, and my favorite thing that he does is when you ask him a question regarding something he is going over, he will respond with "Good question. Actually, we'll go over the later," and then he will proceed to act like nothing was just asked. I would 100% recommend that you stay away from Hatalsky. Terrible, terrible, terrible professor (once again, not attacking his character, but his "teaching"--term used very loosely in regards to him-- style.)

For a day or two, I had a couple professors for this same course. Hatalsky was my favorite of them all. He's not exciting and just a bit awkward socially, but he's really a fantastic teacher. HERE'S WHY: he uses examples and makes sure that everything is very clear. Csc 141 is not an easy course, with lots of logic that can get a bit complex, but his examples and applications make everything so much easier.

Hatalsky was a decent professor. Definitely not as bad as what people say. He's pretty nice and chill. I think he changed his way of teaching. He collected homework this past quarter and it can replace quiz scores if they're too low. Even though you can just take the quiz, I strongly recommend doing the homework. It's time-consuming but helpful. You're likely to fail if you don't do it. His tests are not very easy, but far from impossible. Overall, just do the homework and study the examples from class and the book and you should at least pass. Discrete structures is not an easy class and it has lots of different materials, but I think Hatalsky did a decent job teaching it.

Sadly on PolyLearn I can't put that I recieved a C-. I barely recieved this grade. Hatalsky is competent and knows the material. Do the homework, go to class, and put time into this class. Do what I didn't do. He presents the material and his examples are easy. Quiz day is generally a breeze. Homework is where you really learn the material though. Many midterm/final problems will seem like gibberish unless you put your time into doing the homework. He is great in office hours and caught me up when I was three weeks behind. Miracle worker.

Hatalsky isn't a bad guy and it's not his fault that the material he has to teach is boring as hell. Discrete Structures is an incredibly dry subject that has little quirks in every single chapter that make the subject difficult to comprehend. Some concepts can seem easy when introduced, then when it comes to the homework or the quizzes you'll have no idea what's going on. Is that Hatalsky's fault? Not really. He teaches the material in a very straightforward way and often gives examples in class for how to go about approaching the more difficult problems, however not all of the material is covered in class since there simply isn't enough time to do so. To achieve even a B in this class you have to go an extra mile to truly understand this stuff.

This class is not as bad as people make it seem. Hatalsky is a great professor. He explains everything very clearly. Sure he sometimes asks rushes at the end of class but if you have any questions you can ask and he will make sure that you understand the material. If you want to pass this class you HAVE TO DO THE HOMEWORK. Sometimes the homework is long and tedious but if you do it you will pass the class. Quiz problems are VERY similar to HW problems. First midterm was hard, but he did curve but not much. Second midterm was much easier. Final is easy just review most of the HW specially the last few sections since he doesnt have a quiz on that material and the final had a lot of questions about that. The final is multiple choice with 2-3 proofs but one of the options is None of the above so that doesn't help much. One last thing he curves you final grade. I got a 92% in the class which is an A- but he gave me an A. So as long you are close to the cut you will be fine. GOOD LUCK. Not easy material but put the time and effort and you will be fine.

Hatalsky was definitely a great professor. I had a bad Spring quarter and didn't go to the majority of the lectures and even skipped the quizzes. Towards the end of the quarter I got myself back on track but I had a 47% in the class. I explained what had happened to him and he told me that if I was able to get an 80% on the final exam he would pass me with a C-. I started attending lectures and doing the homework after this and spent time each day self-teaching myself the concepts I had missed earlier in the quarter. I went to his office hours a couple of times with questions from both the current material and the material I was trying to learn on my own. He offered really good explanations and helped to clear my confusion on the topics. He covered the later topics of the course (graph theory) very well during lecture and effectively responded to questions which I could tell helped keep a lot of students on track. I ended up scoring exactly 80% on the final and he passed me with a C (not C-). This extra point saved me from being put on AP during Fall 2013. If you really do try in this course, which means doing the homework, taking the quizzes (obviously), and do well on the final there is no reason for this class not to be an easy B or A. The topics are difficult but they are very important for computer scientists to understand. A lot of students (myself included) simply don't/didn't put in the time needed to learn the material. The quizzes are almost exactly the same as the homework problems and the questions on the midterms were not much harder than those in homework (I looked back at them and worked through them again before I took the final). He also allows you to bring a 2 sided 8.5x11 note sheet to the final. Overall he is a great professor. PS The only thing I did not like was that pretty much the entire final was multiple choice. Obviously he had to do this to be able to grade it in time to post grades but the format was really awkward. Problems where there are multiple solution paths that in an unsimplified format would have been suitable final answers on the midterms had to be further simplified so everyone put down the same answer. For example, a bunch of counting problems (using permutations and combinations) were this way where you had to plug in the answer you got to the formulas and simplify all the extra factorials to get the right answer. Obviously the multiple choice format isn't conducive to partial credit also which I didn't like because almost every problem required multiple steps.

Hatalsky was a great professor. The class itself is quite difficult but he does a great job explaining everything and is very helpful in office hours. Make sure that you actually study the material or you will do poorly and study for the final like it will be your most difficult one. If you do that, you will be fine.

I took Hatalsky for 101 and 202 and I thought he did an excellent job covering the material we needed to learn. He is able to break down introductory programming topics and data structures into very understandable material, and convey it to his students effectively. We had 5 projects and 8 labs that were challenging and made you think, but were very doable. He gave 2 midterms that were also challenging, but if you study what you talked about in class and the labs/projects you will be prepared for them. Sometimes if you don't understand certain topics, it can be hard for him to understand why you don't get it, so you may have to go into his office hours to explain 1-on-1 what you are struggling with. Overall, a funny and nice guy who, though challenging, does a very good job presenting the material and ensuring you are prepared for future courses.

Hatalsky is an excellent lecturer. He carefully lays out material so that it is easy to follow and has a great sense of humor. My only issue with him were the assignments (labs/projects). You have to write your own tests, and there are a limited number of gradings per day, so there's a bit of guesswork in determining what edge cases to consider. Overall, I recommend him due to the high quality lectures, but be prepared to struggle with the projects and difficult/long exams.

Hatalsky is a really great professor. I think that his way of explaining things, and the labs that he used were very helpful in understanding the material. If you need help understanding anything, he is very willing to help and the assistance with labs and projects is just the right kind to nudge you on the right path. I thought that his exams were a little more difficult than you would otherwise expect, and the labs are not really worth that much, meaning the exam grades and project grades affect you a lot, but its certainly reasonable. As long as you always keep working to get every point in the auto-grader (which I wish ran slightly more often), you're totally fine.

Hatalsky is a legend. The material in this course was tough but Hatalsky always made sure people understood, and if anything was unclear he would clarify very well. I also had him for 101 and I really do think he is the best in the department for these first/second year level programming classes.

Hatalsky is really an excellent teacher. The material for CPE 225 is extensive and fairly complex (especially if you have limited programming experience), yet Prof. Hatalsky always manages to present it clearly and in an entertaining way. He knows a ton about this stuff (way more than he says in lecture), and about computer science in general. His exams were not too difficult (the average was around 85% for each midterm, I think), and he lets you use a full page of notes for the midterms and two pages for the final, so you don't have to worry about memorizing too much. If you understand the core concepts and write down a couple long lists of things, then you'll be fine. He also brings cookies!

I've had Hatalsky before, so maybe I shouldn't be rating him again; but he's once of my favorite prof's. He can be a bit of an introverted personality, but he loves what he does, both the teaching and the computer work, and he always loves answer any questions and chatting with his students. If you get the chance, take him.

I completely disagree that Paul and Julie teach this class together. Maybe if you take Julie, you'll be fine, but if you get Paul, it's horrible. The guy is not a good teacher (Who hires these people? Is what comes to mind), He just read from the slides (Everyone can do that). Plus, he doesn't make his own slides. The labs and everything in the class, even the tests, are written by Julie, that's why it's better to take Julie. He Never, NEVER, answered my emails (which made me really mad). The two midterms are little hard, specially the first one. He takes the midterms with him, so you can't really learn from the tests (Most of us, use tests to see what we did wrong, and correct it) As he doesn't give us the tests for us to take home, you can't really study from them, or learn from them: He expects you to go to his office to LOOK at the test. (WHO DOES THAT? Seriously) The class overall is interesting... If you have to take this class with Paul, I recommend that you read your book, and the printed slides that He gives you. If you can, try to take this class with Julie, She might be better.

His tests are very hard and the problems you do in class are completely useless. I strongly advise you to take a different professor for this class.

Time to be real with you. With this class (much like any programming-oriented class) you get out only as much as you put in. I messed around in 141 and barely passed, in this class I got my act together. If you pay attention in class you'll do just fine. The important thing is to never brush off a concept if you don't quite get it, make sure you understand each topic eventually because the midterm and finals are designed to be fully cumulative. In lab I decided to do the assignments on my own just so I could be confident that I knew the material, because if you have a partner who does the lab you lose all motivation for even trying to do it. Paul is the man, he's a cool teacher and not like a lot of the hardasses in the department. He has a great lecture demeanor and is very approachable if you need to ask something. Just don't expect him to spell everything out for you, you still have to put in your fair share of effort. Love this man, wish I could take more classes with him.

Hatalsky, one of my favorite professors. First of all, he's got a good sense of humor - he isn't constantly cracking jokes to detract from lecture, but he makes just the right amount of quips that lectures were a little entertaining. For me at least. Secondly, he's very good at helping you understand what's wrong with a program you've written - no small task when it's in assembly. All his little pre-program exercises and stuff were very helpful, and helped me understand how to set up all the assignments. The tests were a little hard, but in the end not too bad. Definitely make sure you know the machine diagrams though, and understand how to write the programs you've done from scratch (Because you will have to). Overall, I'd definitely recommend Hatalsky for 225, I really enjoyed it, and I feel much more knowledgeable about the core workings of a computer thanks to him.

I don't understand why Hatalsky's rating is so low. He is a good professor. He teaches the material in a way which is very comprehensive and his assignments match what we went over in class. His midterms can be tricky, but he does go over what will be on them in the lectures leading up to them. The reason I got a B- was because I skipped a fair amount of lectures and missed some important info for one of the midterms.

Hatalsky is great. I got a C because I didn't take it as seriously as I should have, but he's super helpful over email or office hours. He can be a bit boring during lecture so try your best to pay attention. Overall a very nice teacher.

Interesting guy... He's a pretty good teacher, I think the best CS prof I've had so far. My only real problem with him is that he has a certain method he wants people to use to solve problems and he doesn't like it if you use a different method to reach the same answer. The class is pretty tough but it is definitely incredibly useful...

Awesome Professor, recommend taking him.

This guy was too hard. He always fails everyone.

this guy is honestly a piece of shit. failed me 2x before giving me a B NO FUCKING PARTIAL CREDIT TAKE JULIEEEEEEE

Failed me in 225 and wasn't considerate about deadlines. Didn't explain things well

Screw this guy, he grades extremely hard. Do not take him for 225, take it with Workman. Shes better.

I thought this class was hard. Hatalsky definitely knew his stuff, but he wasn't the best at explaining the concepts well. If you're someone who has experience in assembly and C, this class will be easy for you. But if you are someone like me who had no experience in either, this class (with Hatalsky) will be a little bit of a struggle and a lot of learning material on your own. Hatalsky is a really nice guy! He just seems kind of lazy. A huge downside is that his TAs graded the midterms (they graded Julie's class as well) and they were not very lenient on partial credit; but if you go to Hatalsky, he'll usually give you some points back.

Worst professor ever. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. You will probably fail.

Stupid bastard never take this professor, failed me for no reason. IBecause of him i hate the LC3.

Very very tough professor.

Paul knows the subject material well, but doesn\'t do a good job at all teaching it. The class (or his not so good teaching) requires a lot of reading and csc tutoring. Paul will upload program notes online and go over them in class, but that\'s all he does. He is very nice and understanding though. The only way I got through this class was with strong help from family members who knew how to write computer code well. I would not suggest taking Hatalsky for this class.

Paul knows the subject material well, but doesn\'t do a good job at all teaching it. The class (or his not so good teaching) requires a lot of reading and csc tutoring. Paul will upload program notes online and go over them in class, but that\'s all he does. He is very nice and understanding though. The only way I got through this class was with strong help from family members who knew how to write computer code well. I would not suggest taking Hatalsky for this class. Quizes are hardly graded (5% of total grade) and the entire grade for the class is only projects and midterms. Whoever graded our class didn\'t even let us know what we did wrong until the end of the quarter when it was too late so it is difficult to evaluate what you need to focus on.

Hatalsky sucks! totally fucked me over, gave me a zero on a project because it looked like someone elses while the other student got credit. the project was ten percent of my grade too!

Average teacher, draws pictures and reads code off of slides. Tough class too, would recommend a different teacher for 357.

Fine teacher, but a little dry in the presentation. I wouldnt suggest having her at 8:00 in the morning, might be difficult staying awake.