Kauffman, Daniel  

Daniel is an awesome professor! He is a big believer in second chances and extra credit. Daniel is not strict on the schedule as some projects take longer than others and he will extend the due date if needed. He always answers your questions even if they're stupid and he'll sit there until you understand it. The only complaint I have is that he takes FOREVER to grade, like only a quarter of our grades were in on the day of the final...he does have 2 other jobs, is a grad student, and has a wife and a kid so he is understandably busy, but I never had any idea what my grade looked like in the class until after the final which I don't think was fair. There are 6 projects (just like all CPE101 classes) which are worth 30%, 2 midterms that were worth 20% total, 8 labs that were worth 10% total, 2 programming quizzes that are worth 15% total, participation which was worth 5%, and the common final which was worth 20%. HE IS BY FAR THE BEST CPE PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT (I had friends in all the other professor's classes and I can say with confidence that Daniel is better than them.).

Professor Kauffman was a great teacher. Very helpful and made class interesting. Class was not too hard but he made sure you understood everything. also gives a lot of extra credit. no midterms but quizzes every week

This class is hard no matter what teacher you have. Daniel's class is different than the other ones though because there are no midterms, just a lot of projects and then a weekly online quiz. Daniel did a good job explaining concepts and teaching the tools, but didn't really teach us how to problem solve, which is the core to coding. The labs are barely helpful and he would never tell us what to study for the quiz. He never gave any practice problems or extra work to practice, so there were no resources when it came time to study for the quizzes, and then especially for the final. The final is a common one and it is written, but never once in this class did we touch paper or do anything on it and we had no study guide or an inkling of the type of problems that would be on the final. I ended up getting resources from other people who had other teachers, but had i taken the final, I would not have done well because he never exposed us to writing the code by hand and not having a compiler to check if there are mistakes, so if you have Kauffman, find people who can share their midterms and practice problems with you and practice writing code by hand because otherwise you will not do well on the final. Also, this class discourages collaboration and the penalty is high for it and these projects are time consuming and hard, so make sure you start your projects early and DO NOT COPY CODE. This sounds like super negative review but there were some perks to the class like, we had a long time to do projects, there was a good amount of extra credit (it's hard but it's there), 2 lowest quiz scores were dropped, and you will 100% learn something. The key takeaway would be I guess to be on top of everything from week 1, because if you fall behind you won't be able to catch us and then you're fucked. It's gonna be a hard and time consuming class so don't procrastinate and don't assume it'll be easy. Kauffman is not the worst, but he's not the best either and this class will not be easy.

This is a very difficult class if you have no coding experience prior to this like me. On the first day he says there are ALWAYS people who fail the class and that if you don't have experience it'll be the hardest class you're taking which is very true. I thought he did well explaining the material during lecture, but applying it to the projects was a lot harder than I expected. Always start early on projects because even if you think you're almost done you might be far from it. He takes off a lot for small things that shouldn't be a big deal imo. Quizzes are pretty hard too and count for a lot. I heard the common final was insanely hard so I prepared expecting that to be true which I recommend. You can definitely pass the class if you're worried about that but you'll have to dedicate a lot of time to it.

He is a really great professor, he genuinely cares and works hard to help students and explain things clearly while also being able to cater to his most advanced students. A truly great professor and cool guy

Wow. I took this class because Kauffman had good polyratings. Coming from little background in computer science, but enough to take a 101 class I knew this class would be a challenge. Kauffman does not appeal to the layman in any sense of the word and has very little empathy for students. Projects in this class take around 20 hours to complete (which I am fine with) however they are submitted through his barebones system "Casey" to where the system won't let you submit unless everything not only works, but works to his standards. Now, I understand that with CPE 101 he wanted to teach about specific methods and limit us from the easy functions that Python had (such as someone looking something up to complete a problem - he stated you shouldn't have to look anything up for this class). Wrong - even if the project not only works, but each individual module adheres from his lectures, you still wont score higher than a 50% unless its 100% EXACT FORMAT AND EXACT SAME FUNCTION METHODS/MODULES. Oh, and then he hand grades it afterward so he'll mark you down for code cleanliness too after you've already been kicked. If you care about your education in Computer Science, especially if you're a beginner, do NOT take his class: I've heard much better reviews from students in other 101 classes whose professors don't necessarily have the highest polyratings. If you are in this class, you better hope you have a lot of prior knowledge in CS and especially python to even hope to pass.

Coming from someone who has never taken a programming class in his life, this guy is hands down the top professor I've had at Cal Poly. He does a great job answering any questions, and although professor Kauffman has a long line during his office hours and labs, he provides a tremendous resource with the Casey auto grading system, which allows you to submit work an unlimited number of times and check where you made mistakes.. Before you look at the other reviews trashing Casey, consider the alternative: having a one time online submission, and no clue whether you got 100% or 0%. Oh, and major bonus is that if you get above a 97 by the final you get to auto A the class.

This is the first quarter that Daniel has ever taught at Cal Poly. He is really knowledgeable, approachable, and willing to help students. As someone who has never programmed before I found him to be pretty good at explaining the concepts presented in lecture. We have to do ten labs, six projects, and midterms/quizzes. We don't cover everything in class on how to do all the labs which can sometimes be confusing but if you ask him he is always helpful. Definitely go to his office hours on non-class days if you have a specific question! Projects are hard but he is understands they are hard and works with students (gave us deadline extensions more than once). Overall I'm very glad to have taken CS 101 with him. I think he laid a good foundation for me to take 102 and he made a class I thought would be boring pretty interesting!

This is my first instructor evaluation on poly rating, and you're probably wondering what has compelled me to write one now. It's not because of friends or the instructor advised me do so, but I am choosing on my own accord based the instructor's performance in teaching the class. If you're just skimming through this, here's to the point, Daniel is one of the best instructors I have taken, so far at Cal Poly. So, choose him for CPE 101. Here's the in-depth portion. This is Daniel's first quarter teaching at Cal Poly for CPE 101. Although it may seem a bit daunting to choose him for your first cs course, I can assure you, he will prepare you for the labs, projects, and midterms. This is assuming that you're putting in the effort, and have the time. There's no doubt that 101 is a difficult class, so assess, and be honest with yourself whether you have the time to commit. Daniel has gone out of his way to make it easier for students because he has held office hours not normally on his schedule. After class, he stayed to answer questions, and help students on projects or labs. He's very perceptive, and can see what's wrong in your code. Although Daniel is a very nice person, don't expect him to just hand you the solution. He won't. though, he will give you the necessary framework, and knowledge to piece it together. Because Daniel is a student himself, he has a unique perspective on why students struggle, and will accommodate accordingly. If you wondering why there aren't any negative critiques,that's because, there are none. Also, office hours help a lot! hope this helped

Daniel Kauffman is the best CPE 101 professor at Cal Poly. He's super chill in terms of grades, and will stay after for so long helping you with labs. The curve in the class was at least 10% at the end and he's always willing to help you out a bunch. Great teacher in classes too, will give you lots of helpful examples, and even will help you get started on the projects.

Kauffman is the best. His lecture slides are helpful, and his midterms/programming quizzes are pretty easy. He will also help you a lot if you're having trouble with something. Sometimes, he gives away answers and some coded needed for your projects. If you take this class in spring, he'll likely go easier on your class since most of the people taking it that quarter are EE's. By no means is this an easy class, but it was pretty fun with Kauffman.

Daniel was an excellent professor. Personally, I found the class to be very difficult; however, Daniel was extremely helpful. He is very patient if you do not understand a concept fully, and is extremely helpful during office hours. Take his class!! He is a great professor

Daniel's a good teacher. He understands how difficult it can be to learn CS as he switched to CS from a nontechnical background as well not too long ago. He presents material when you need it. He won't overload your brain with information you don't need. He gives you the tools required to build something or to solve problems - it's up to you to creatively use the tools together to come up with solutions. Take his class. As for me - I took this class just to see if I'd like CS, coming from the business college. Thanks to taking 101 with Daniel, I believe I was set up well to change career paths. I ended up taking more CS classes after his to lay down the foundations. Now I'm currently spending time after graduation learning web development frameworks to apply for software engineering positions, rather than internships I would have taken had I just stuck to my business/IT courses.

Daniel is the best. This class is generally considered pretty difficult, especially without prior coding experience, but he made it totally manageable. His lectures are very straightforward and he explains concepts very well, and he only presents information when needed instead of overwhelming you. He's very approachable and extremely helpful in labs and office hours. As he just recently finished grad school and started teaching, he understands better than most professors common student difficulties and accommodates accordingly (giving us ample time for projects, extending deadlines as needed, adjusting quizzes when everyone was struggling, etc). This quarter he implemented an automatic grader that gives a lot of feedback on your code as well. I'm a business student looking to minor in CS and taking this class not only confirmed my decision to continue with the minor but also gave me an excellent foundation to build upon in later courses. I rarely write polyratings, but like other people have said Daniel is one of the best professors I've had here at Poly and I absolutely cannot recommend him enough. If you have the chance, take a class with him!!

Overall, his ability to teach was decent but his grading system SUCKS B for teaching material D for grading system you never know your actual grade in the class. Almost everyone I have talked to never knew their grade. We could all be failing right now and we would not know. He says if you want to see your quizzes to come to his office hours but that is so inconvenient for some people and some may not even be able to make it. His grading system is terrible. the problem sets are worth only 10% of our grade but should be worth more because of how much time BEGINNER CODERS have to spend on it. Plus we can think that we're doing good on the projects because it shows 100% on Casey(terminal in which we turn in our projects) showing "4 / 4" when he shows later that it actually is out of 7, failing a student who actually put in the work and thought they did well. Overall, his teaching the material is good at the beginning of the quarter but falls to average near the end and his grading system is really bad. plus, most of us in the class struggle because we suck at coding but we get problem sets every week and a project to do every week starting after the 5th week. good luck

Kauffman explained the concepts pretty well however his issue is with helping students. He is very unapproachable and often made me feel dumb anytime I tried to ask a question. His projects are also harder than other 101 professors. He makes you include other functions that most professors leave out. A good amount of people ended up withdrawing in order to avoid failing.

Doesn't answer questionsssss on time.

Professor Kauffman is a great professor. Answers your emails within 24 hours and answers them to lead you down the right path, not to give the answer. I've had my share of bad and good professors, but I'd say Professor Kauffman tops the best professors I've had in any department. His teaching style is nice; comes in, lectures, has frequent partner activities and has students engage in lecture. I never felt dumb for asking a particular question. Grading wise he has the typical projects(4-5) and labs (8-10), in addition quizzes(6). He drops two lowest labs and lowest quiz score. There are no midterms, but there is a written final. Overall I enjoyed the class. Would I take it again? Nah Would I become a TA? maybe Would I take Professor Kauffman for another CSC class? HYFR

Kauffman was an awesome professor! Compared to pass professor's material, he created his own slides with as much detail to get the concept of all topics. So it made it twice as understandable. He was also super helpful during office hours and lab. The only drawback was how long it took for him to grade everything. I have to cut him some slack because he was balancing teaching this class for the first time along with having a baby in the middle of the quarter. Also there were a lot of things that changed on the portions of each section such as all assignments (lab and projects) combined to be nearly half the grade, 26% of two midterms (both on PolyLearn), and 20% for the final. He did also grant us a curve, which helped a lot of us. Overall, if Kauffman is willing to teach this class again I would definitely recommend him.

I definitely agree with the first review. Kaufman's lecture slides are excellent and really help visualize the abstract concepts of low-level programming. He also provides a helpful LC-3 simulator that allows you to see every step your program goes through (which made labs sooo much easier!!!) and teaches the C portion in a way that prepares you for 357 (ex: he emphasizes using Vim, shows how to compile files for proper error/style checking, etc.). The only thing I disliked was his use of Polylearn tests (which means no partial credit if the problem requires computation; plus you have to deal with the delay of inputing answers that you worked on paper), however the final is written and there is a significant curve.

daniel is one of the best if not the best professor ive ever had at cal poly. like another commenter from on here, i also have never left a review on polyratings either, and ive had some pretty good professors. but daniel is truly one of the best. highly available during office hours and lab for individual question, to a degree i haven't seen in any of my other teachers. he also cares about the success of his students. if you have the chance to get in a course with daniel, especially in a topic you genuinely want to learn more about, TAKE IT! you will NOT regret it. also, he assigns projects that are just super good for getting a high quality understanding of the material he teaches. cannot say enough good things about daniel, and cant think of anything bad. if i could take him for every other quarter i would.

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!