Hsu, John  

Dr Hsu is one of the worst professors I have ever had. He cannot explain things clearly, he spends time talking about outdated things and he will not answer questions, but rather he will tell you that it is hard material, tell you what chapter in the book to read, and possibly repeat one of his so-called explanations. I would strongly reccomend against him.

Hsu is teaching assembly language for Pentium processors. He gives 1 midterm and i final. Homework and project do not count towards the grade but he marks you off for not doing them. He's not helpful during lectures. He always asks us, "Ask me a question." However, he rarely answers them and he will then ask you to read the book he wrote instead, which also gives unclear explantations. He is not helpful in office hours since he does not take time to look at your work and shows an unwelcome attitude. The midterm and final have about 10 problems: some short answers and some programming. Personal recommendation? avoid him at all cost.

Out of all the professors at Calpoly, this has got to be the worst one yet (and I'm almost a senior). Hsu cannot explain anything you ask him and constantly babbles to himself during class. Do yourself a favor and don't take this professor.

This teacher is extremely horrible. His lectures in class do not make sense. He rambles on and on about nonsense and the book that he tells the class to buy is not even helpful towards the test. If you want to do well in his class, buy the outside reading book he mentions on his syllabus. My friend read that book and he said about 4 chapters into the book, all of Hus's material made complete sense. There is 1 mid-term and 1 final. The highest grade you get on either of those will be your grade in the class. I found that in his office hours he tends to speak "English" instead of his "lecture rambling" but his answers are short and not as informative as you would like. Either way, this was a technical class and he is the worst person for the job. The labs did not even coincide with his weekly lessons but you must study them in order to do well on the tests. His tests had short answer questions, and 1 big problem that deals with code. IF POSSIBLE, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. HE IS THE WORST TEACHER IN THE CSC DEPARMENT.

i dunno why i went to class the few times i did. "you get A on final... you get A in class". and by some miracle, thats what happened. he doesnt tell you whats on the final, but its just 8 questions of stuff you should know if you read ch. 4 & 5 and tried on the programs. His book is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. the first 5 weeks he talks about 2's complement and binary. but whatever if you dont plan on doing comp. architecture, then take hsu for an easy A

"You get A on final, you get A in class. It very intuitive." The guy is nice and all, but he shouldn't be teaching any more

WTF? This pretty much sums up what this professor is about. With only one midterm, a final, and a professor with a serious lack of english skills I found myself not attending the last four weeks of class. However, I'm still not sure that attending class would've helped my grade any considering that several others that I talked to that did go also received C's. Do yourself a favor and wait however many quarters you have to, to not take this guy.

wow! I don't think I learned a single thing about assembly this quarter. He always talks about how his book and his papers are the best (over stanford) when they really don't explain anything. You go into this class expecting to learn assembly when you don't get taught anything about structure or what the statements mean. He also only shows up to lab to unlock it.. I think he was there for 2 labs out of the whole quarter. I hope you can teach yourself assembly language if you take this guy. Good luck!

Hsu is the argument against tenure. I got my only 'D' in a major class from him. He may know a lot about 1970's technology, but he is completely out of touch with reality. He is impossible to understand, cannot answer student questions, and his tests are a disaster. Someone please put him out of our misery!

If this guy could speak english he still wouldn't be a good teacher. I can't believe Cal Poly lets him stay around. I have never had such a bad teacher who uses his own piece of shit book to learn from. If I had to choose between a death sentence and taking his class I would rather die! His grading scheme is two tests and it doesnt' matter what you get on his tests he will give you what he thinks you deserve. Hsu can take his prusses and "circulate" them up his ###.

I have but one word to say to you, intuitive. This one word is all you ever here from him, 'it is ve'y intuitive, but this no intuitive, no intuitive, but this intuitive.' This course is intuitively terrible. You have your choice of going to class and learning nothing, or trying to learn from his piece of crap book, which must of killed the poor editor because there are still errors in it. I learned absolutely nothing from him, my only savior was a library book that I used instead of his crap. Avoid this teacher at all costs, I don't care if you have to bribe another teacher to let you in his class, do not take this teacher, ever.

Well, John Hsu was certainly an interesting teacher...I don't really know what to say, but the language barrier devastated his lectures and his ability to help or understand his students' problems. I would only take this course with Dr. Hsu if you are absolutely enthusiastic and fanatical about your major and are willing to study and work on your own, because everyday will be a test of your motivation.

He can't teach! Thankfully most of the things aren't too difficult... He uses the word "intuitive" way too many times... I hear that would about 10 times per lecture... that is more than i heard in my entire life! He stuff is hard... but as long as you do all of the homework... he will give you at least a C... and I greatly screwed up on his midterm (68%) and final.. but I got a B+... Doesn't make too much since.. but hey! I like it...

Dr. Hsu does an excellent job of making each class utterly worthless and boring. The language barrier can be a large one, but it's not his accent that prevents the teaching of the material, it's him. It comes down to this: he is not a good teacher. The class consists of a midterm and a final, with homework which is graded but for seemingly no reason. If you get an A on the final, you'll get an A in the class, but plan on learning the material yourself. I would highly suggest doing everything you can to avoid him. By the time you are done with this class, every time you hear the word 'intuitive' you'll want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon.

Dr. Hsu's class is a lot like prison; each minute you spend will seem like an hour, you will be metaphorically violated on a regular basis, and you won't learn anything other than the fact that Hsu's ability to speak English rivals most houseplants. Overall, you're better off not going. His lecture is based entirely on his book, which is basically impossible to read, the homework is long, grueling and redundant, and his midterms will test a wide array of concepts you probably won't understand from Hsu's inherent inability to present material clearly and answer questions. Overall, he can't teach. If you take this class, hopefully you learn everything from your lab teachter in 259, because you definitely won't learn it from Hsu.

Hsu is a little retro, he's teaching Intel i86 architecture becuase he thinks it's going to be the big thing for a long time even though Intel is getting rid of that architecture. Do yourself a favor, save yourself the headache, take someone else.

Dr. Hsu unfortunately spends way too much time extolling his own virtues, while teaching very little to the class. It is never really clear what we were learning, and what directions he was taking us. Worse, asking him questions makes you more confused about the questions you have, because he likes to be rhetorical, thus not answering anything at all. I seriously have no idea what I've learned in the class, and I fear that I may have to unlearn the things he taught me. He is quite friendly, but sadly that does not offset all the other flaws.

This class was simply insulting. Hsu's lectures lack the intellect and depth that is expected by students in a 300 level course. His explanations are remedial. He spent most of his time re-explaining concepts that should have been solidified in CPE 215: concepts like 2's compliment and logical operations. Any topics that justified analysis and explanation were trivialized. I strongly suggest you avoid this professor at all costs. I have yet to find a student satisfied with Hsu's teaching capabilities.

He doesn't teach the revelant material, and the material he does teach is out-dated, or sometimes downright wrong. If it is at all possible, take someone else.

Hsu's class is surreal. When you do "well", you get "prusses" next to your name on his role sheet. I have yet to determine what, if anything, a pruss quantifies. When not distributing prusses, Hsu generally babbles about his antiquated view of women in the workforce. He strokes his pointer and giggles to himself at inappropriate times. He always begins class with a few sentences regarding Intel assembly, but the novelty of chalk invariably throws him on an illustrated tangent. He babbles during labs, oblivious to the furious clicking of solitaire. He is a nice, old man and belongs in a nice, old nursing home.

Hsu can be really anal about grading papers and can't teach if his life depended on it. You can forget about going to office hours because he can't help you. It's too bad he has tenure at Calpoly.... he would have been fired a long time ago.

Avoid at all costs. Didn't learn a thing but got an A. Must have been the prusss points.. anyway I heard Cisco Systems are not donating equipement till he's gone. Really hard to understand the guy. I feel bad at times, but we are paying a lot of cash to get a freaking good education. Why not send the best team in Cal Poly? Sometimes it amazes me how this school gets good reps if its hard to pass a course with low teaching abilities. AVOID HSU!

I've actually did pretty well in this class, saying that I didn't learn a thing. But you will not need this class anywhere else in life, so take it for the GPA boost, it's pretty easy. He also cares about his students. First he cares about you're budget, instead of making you by a hundred dollar book that he wrote and getting royalties from it, you can pick up his book at second edition for half the cost. Also, all the "prusses" he gives add up to a good grade. The only way you can fail this class is if you're a fucking idiot, and whine about what you're not learning in this class and how's he's a bad teacher, and not learning what he's writing on the board. So take this class with Hsu for an easy grade.

avoid him at all costs. You're lucky you've been warned.

This is by far the worst professor I have ever had. Sitting in his class made me want to change my major. He seems like a really nice man but watch out because he could care less about his students. He never answers questions but rather confuses you more after you ask one. As another student said about another teacher, hang yourself in your garage before you take this teacher.

AVOID HSU AT ALL COSTS. I wasted a quarter taking his stupid class. He should be fired.

This professor can't teach! You can't understand what he's saying and his test are totally hard...I didn't learn anything in his class!

Well well, where to start, i think i would like to start off with some favorite quotes from good ole dr. hsu himself: "you promise me, you go to lab, you try this, you are very good" "you understand my lecture today you are very very good" "you read my book you are good" "do i like this? NO. Do i like this? NO. You say what do i like? I say read chapter 10." "you say where do i teach this? i say chapter 4" "if you understand this thumbs up? very good. Thumb down? you go to library" "Hmmm, i want to think about that, but not now?" (in response to student question) " any question? question welcome, if you dont ask question, kid in Russia will" "iret is similar to return, ...except iret" Collecting these quotes was the only thing that kept me awake in this painfully boring class. Dr Hsu is so ineffective that it is shameful he is still at CalPoly. For one he doesn't seem to want to be teaching, he must look at the clock fifteen times an hour and usually ends the class ten minutes early or says something to the effect "i take break, you talk among selves" and leaves for five minutes. He seems like a nice enough person he just STINKS at teaching. I got a B+ in the class and i couldn't even explain to you what i learned. Dont even waste your time going to his office hours, his door is closed and if you knock he gets all pissy and acts like he cant wait for you to leave. Avoid him if you can, he isn't easy and he definately isn't worth the effort/time. Good luck.

I earned a B in the class, but no thanks to Dr. Hsu. What a worthless professor. I'm sure as a person he is great, but as an educator he sucks. He never gives clear examples; his explanations are confusing; and reading his book is exactly like listening to him talk. Obviously, he needs to work on crossing the language barrier before he can be an effective teacher. Oh, and BTW, guess who I found on the internet? http://www.hotornot.com/r/?eid=RREZNRkey=NFD

If you enjoy learning 1970 technology and assembly by yourself, then this is the professor for you. Hsu simply can't teach... and it makes me wonder where he got his credentials. My only explanation is that he bribed somebody at Calpoly so he could become a teacher. Don't take this professor!!!!

Dr. Hsu seems to know the material but unfortunately he simply cannot covey it. Perhaps it is a language barrier and not his fault... I don't know. His tests are easy but the final is hard. My reccomendation is DO NOT take this professor. I hardly learned anything from him and still don't understand why I attended class all quarter. Calpoly administration should have retired this guy A LONG time ago.

OMG. Can't wait until this guy retires. He's a nice guy but he can't teach at all. Only good part of the class is if you do all the HW's you're guaranteed a C. Also if you attend class most of the time and keep earning those "plusses", Hsu will reward you with a random book off his bookshelf. I didn't gain any knowledge about Computer Architecture, but I did recieve a book on programming for Itanium Processors.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! If he is your only option, postpone graduation and take this class another quarter. Rediculous teacher. He doesn't really teach. You won't learn anything. He is old and senile and can't teach. Plus, he is teaching material from the 1970s in an ever-evolving computer indistry. In a word, pointless!

Uses his own book which is alright but I think there are better choices out there. Most students think he teachers outdated material because he talks about the pentium but he's really just teaching the x86 architecture which is still the most widely used architecture around. Hard to understand first but his mideterms and finals were a snap. Complete his assembly language programs as soon as possible because he'll give you an A no matter what if you turn it in quick enough. I know he has the worst score out there but i didnt think his class was that bad.

Hsu is a very poor teacher. He has not kept up to date with modern technology, as a result, students are forced to learn antiquated "old school" facts that you will never ever help you get a job. Take somebody else.

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.