Sandige, Richard  

Dear god, this guy is a dinosaur. I don't know how old he is, but he was working for HP when they made their first computers. In fact, he was on the actual development team. He's a little lost now as to how technology works now as evidenced by his inability to get the internet to work in class or regularly update the laptop he was using (the popup kept coming up asking him to restart for updates and he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't go away). He presents his material pretty straight-forwardly and he gets all excited when he explains stuff. He repeats himself a lot and when he finishes a sentence he gets all giddy and gets the same smile as, you know, President Bush gets when he says something right in a public speech. He uses a self-published book he wrote to inform the class but there's a ton of mistakes in it usually. You get points for correcting the mistakes and sending them to him via e-mail. It's annoying because you don't really have a book to learn from, but if you just pay attention to him in class and take notes it won't matter. His tests were pretty easy too, although boolean logic and basic digital design is pretty much a piece of cake. I can't really say he was a great teacher or anything, but at no point did I think he was a bad teacher. Just a little senile.

This class isn't too bad, it's easy to get a B if you go to class and take notes, an A requires you to kick ass on the exams. Sandige definitely knows his stuff...hell, he WROTE the book. He is always upbeat in class, not like those boring monotone lectures other CSC/CPE professors are known for. He makes jokes, talks about his days at HP, etc. You have to do good on the exams, since your grade is only based on 3 exams and a few quizzes. A very good professor, a decent class.

Sandige- I think Sandige is an above-average professor, in the classroom. I have nothing negative to say about the way he conducts himself in person, or in class. But something really needs to be said about his textbook. First of all, he wrote the textbook. Writing a textbook is an achievement that usually deserves respect and admiration. We have all have heard the cliche "he wrote the book", and know what it is supposed to impart. Academic departments typically view the publishing a textbook as an important bench-mark in a professor's scholastic career. In theory, getting something printed on high-gloss paper and bound in cardboard should impart authority, respect. Sandige's book is the exception to all of these rules. Don't be fooled into thinking that because you have to buy and read this book, it means the book is a respectable accomplishment. You might initially think so, but then have your doubts as you suffer your way through his illogically organized chapters, his uneven style, his unclear figures, his errata, his lack of clear direction or explanation of terms. You might think to yourself: do I just not get it? Is it my fault that this material makes no sense? No, its not your fault, its Sandige's. It is no coincedence that Sandige is at the helm of the CPE department, and the fact that every student who takes CPE 219 has to spend their (or more likely their parent's) hard-earned money on this abonimation of a textbook. This situation is the embodiement of one man's greed, and a department's leadership, gone horribly astray. What should be viewed as an achievement is in reality a farse that does nothing but harm his student's education, at their own cost. Don't just take my word for it, visit the web-page of the book's unfortunate publisher, and read the SIX PAGES OF ERRATA that this book has generated. http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/sandige/chapter4/deluxe.html This book is his baby, and like an infant, it is milking students for every drop of their money. This baby should have been aborted.

well, sandige sure as hell knows his stuff. But I'll be damned if he could convey any of his knowledge my way. This guy's style so non-linear and unorganized it's ridiculous! This is an easy class, however if you try to get through it using sandige's book your fucked. Get another book and don't go to class, then it's an easy A.

Sandige is a nice guy but he was a little vague in his directions. He gives out quizzes in the lab so be prepared. He wrote the textbook so if you ask him a question he'll tell you to look on page "###" in the book because he explains it there. Otherwise, the lab is cake and he's not too bad a guy to take the lab it from.

His book is an embaressment to the acadmic community. That thing is the worst piece of crap I have ever had to read. Do yourself a favor and dont buy his book and go see Dr. Braun for some supplemental material. Other than that he his a really nice guy. Kinda of a hick!!

Dr. Sandige is so energetic and enthusiastic about teaching. He loves to teach and learn new things from his students as well. You know you'll learn from anyone who is like that. Overall, I think he is an excellent prof. His labs are pretty interesting.

Dr. Sandige's 229 felt like a somewhat slow paced class for the first few weeks, and involved a lot more personal stories towards the end. I don't know if it was to keep up with the other instructors or not, but the first 5-6 weeks were basically designing the same finite state machine in several different ways - something that could have probably been covered fine in 2-3. Midterm questions seemed almost asinine, which Dr. Sandige justified by making them open book - which would seem fine, execept the book was simply meant to be a reference and no reading was assigned, basically making the book required to do well on tests which seems unreasonable. Grading was completely based on midterms/final, so if you just break down and buy the book, and pay attention to very small details (names of specifics in software, etc), it's a simple class.

If you really want to hear about someone's entire family and their whole life, then you definitely want to take this guy, but if you actually want to learn something, then you'd better take someone else. He spends half the time in class telling stories and bragging about his life. He uses a computer and powerpoint for his lectures so expect a lot of reading off the screen. For his tests, make sure you memorize every little detail of his slides, and I mean every single detail. He will test on the things that you think he won't test on, so be warned.

A senile old cowboy whos only qualification for even being here is that he wrote the damn book. He either bores you to tears or tests you on the excruciating minutia of Xilinx software and the pathetic excuse for a microcomputer known as the Picoblaze. Don't get me wrong, it's a useful learning tool; we wouldn't want to start out programming pentiums. Anyway, the point is, Sandige isn't really worth your time of day. The only reason for even going to class is the possibility of a "pop" quiz, which he usually announces anyway; just download the powerpoints and know your stuff. He has a really hard time understanding student questions, so don't be surprised if he never answers yours.

Though he's very passionate about his subject and truly wants his students to learn, he teaches at a VERY SLOW PACE... which could mean an easy A for you if you can bear the boring the lectures. He only has one midterm which was very easy if you did the homework. One oddball question on the midterm dealt with drawing a schematic of a circuit described in VHDL... that came out of nowhere!!! Also on his tests, he counts how many "errors" each person makes, calculates the curve, then assigns you a grade... so just hope the person next to you is forgetting more semicolons than you are... If you have him for lecture, you better have him for lab too because he definitely does NOT prepare you for other instructors' labs (since they're usually 2 weeks ahead of Sandige.) Oh yeah, he assigns homework EVERY class day, and grades them in binary (full credit or zero.) At least he isn't cruel and unusual...just very boring.

This guy really doesn't know how to teach a class. We had no textbook for the class, so he decides that he's going to write one for it. Unfortunately for us, he decided that he was going to teach the whole course straight from his half-written book. His grading scheme was also terrible. HW everyday worth about 2 pts for 2 coding assignments, some of which took hours, and it was either a hit or miss, all or none for the points. Avoid this guy as much as possible.

you know, if he were black, he'd look a lot like Clayton Bigsby (from Chappelle's show)

If there ever was a teacher that needed mandatory retirement...it is Sandige. I seriously think this man is senile or suffering from dementia. The quarter started off on a bad foot...Sandige forgot to put in a request for the our course notes (the only text available) and by the time he got the request in we had spent almost three weeks of instruction without any text. To make matters worse, Sandige refused to release even the first chapter of the course notes in PDF format becuase he said releasing material in electronic format encouraged laziness and complacency. When we finally got his course notes, it turned out that is was really more of a manuscript for his next book... it is full of typos, bad grammar, and flat out incorrect information. His lectures are flat out crappy. He spends so much time going over previous homework problems (anywhere from 15-30 minutes) that it leaves very little time for instruction. When he isn't going over homework problems he is babbling about the work he did for HP, that his son made his first million by the age of 30 and works for WildTagent, and talks about the flowers he and his wife took pictures of while on hikes. In a given hour lecture, there is only about 10-15 minutes of useful information...and is spread out so randomly through the hour that it is impossible to know what is important. Sandige requires homework to be turned in on a daily basis which isn't a big deal (it really does make you keep up on the homework and reading), the problem is the way he does his grading. A given homework assignment is worth anything from 1 to 4 points...usually two or three. When he does his grading he will knock off a point for anything he see is wrong or something he disagrees with (even if it is functionaly correct). Knocking a point off a three point assignment makes the assignment grade a D....with homework being 30% of your grade it is next to impossible to get a good grade. If at all possible, I would highly recommend not taking this teacher...he should be taken out back and shot.

Well, what's to say...... I actually agree with most of these previous evaluations. You're best off not going to lecture, since all he does pretty much is read from the book (which I did on my own time almost every night), and hell, he even wrote the book too, and when he's not doing that, he's telling about his life story and just gets off on tangents. In any given lecture I'd say there's only about 20-25% of info that's useful, usually when he gives you insight on how to start the labs. And oh yeah, he gives extra credit (10%) in lab if you do it ahead of time at home and get your design working within the first 30 minutes, which is what my lab partner and I did every week. Your grade is 3 midterms (40%), final (40%) and lab (20%). I don't think the midterms were too difficult (since he tells you beforehand what kinds of questions are going to be on it), but his anal grading will make you want to rip your hair off (he knocks off unnecessary points for minor VHDL infractions, for instance, and even if it's technically correct), so if that happens be prepared to go to office hours to argue for points back. Also, in the end, he still makes your lecture and lab grades both the same, so even if you have 100% in lab you might still get a B in both classes (which is pretty retarded). In the end, my lab partner and I ended up figuring out pretty much everything on our own. The 10-week designing and implementation process of a 4-bit computer onto our FPGA board was a pretty fun and informative process, but Sandige's little quirks will have you paranoid and frustrated throughout the quarter. At least he's definitely not a dick like some EE profs.

Sandige\'s class was extremely interesting if you actually read the book and try to understand the material. All tests and quizzes were based on the questions in the back of the book. If you got a question wrong and asked him about it, he would usually give you points back if you can legitimately explain your answer. He is a little slow going over the material and repeats the same concepts over and over, but this does help reinforce concepts and drill them into your mind. He is a happy guy and will sit down with you and re-explain concepts until you understand them. It was extremely easy to get an A, just read the chapters and find the answers in the back of each chapter and memorize those answers. This was one of the easiest courses I have ever taken and I have never encountered the material before; the people complaining were just too lazy to read the book and study for the quizzes and tests. Also, you must take him for lecture and lab otherwise you will only learn half the material.

i wonder if the university will still be in a good standing if the books written by Sandige are included in the course ware. Well, let me tell you one thing, he is himself as vague as his book is. I found his office hours useful than his class. Attending the lecture was a complete waste of time and thats why the daily attendance use to be 55% at the most. If you have him for lecture make sure you have him for lab too. not that he teaches the lab incredibly good but rather to be consistent. he sometimes use to talk in the class about lab and give an overview of it which is helpful. Otherwise read his slides extremly well as that what exam is from. His exams are very fair and so is his grading policy. i wasnt doing good i nlab so i couldnot pull an A. In short "he is easy and you learn nothing."

Horrible teacher. Seriously. Tests are worded very ambiguously and to top it off he does not allow you to ask question during the test. Probably the pickiest grading teacher i have ever had. ever. he teaches the class his way and does not allow for suggestions.

this guy is extremely boring and slow to adapt to new things. he is technically retired and definately on his way out. the class material was alright, but he is so slow to teach it. you could seriously space out for 10 minutes and he would still be talking about the same thing. if you read the book you will be ahead of him, infact you could probably teach the damn class if you actually understand what is written in the book, which he wrote by the way. avoid if possible.

HIS LECTURE AND LAB ARE LINKED -- YOU MUST TAKE BOTH HIS LECTURE AND LAB AS THEY ARE BASED ON BUILDING A SIMPLE COMPUTER OUT OF THE NEXYS-2 BOARD. ------Ignore the bad comments on this professor as they are most likely coming from ===impatient and arrogant students===. This professor is by far the best when it comes to helping students learn. ===He grades you as though you were working for a company=== -- thus, when submitting reports to him make sure that everything is as specified and that no code is cut-off by the printer. You can pass his class so long as you pay attention and ===do the homework=== as the quizzes and midterms are all ===based on the homework===. Also, if you want a smooth quarter with this professor -- do not provoke him. Just sit back, be patient if he gives you a long lecture, and do everything exactly as it says in the specs for a lab. Also, know that this professor is merciful -- he is the only professor I know that will still give you a 9/10 on a program that you turn in late! He also gives you ===extra credit=== points for proofreading and alerting him of errors in his book!

I fell asleep at least half the time in his class. It's a waste of your time going. He opens a PDF file and drones. We didn't get the book untill the third week of class. The last two weeks we didn't use it; he posted a new chapters on blackboard. The book is full of errors, which he give you extra credit to edit for him. I set the curve on both midterms, recieved an A in the class. He gives you homework to do, it is either extremely easy or ridiculously hard. Overall I feel like I should ask the school for some of my money back- I basically taught myself. If the rest of my major classes are like this I'm switching out. Not happy at all.

Sandige was a good prof in lab... There are some probs though... He is somewhat helpful if you talk to him about things and have a plan before asking questions but if you ask him how to wire up the circuit he'll tell you "learn by doing!" Make sure you can explain to him your circuit before asking... He gives 2 quizzes which are worth 15% of your grade if got 7/10 and 9/10... weird... Also I got an A- in the class which happened to be the highest grade and lo and behold it was a 91... he doesn't curve but he passed everyone. He is really helpful if youknow what you're talking about and sometimes goes off on a tangent about HP but its interesting none the less... Just talk to him about IC's and circuits... Make sure you listen when he speaks, he tends to blurt out important info when no one's listening jsut my 2 cents

For lecture Sandige is complete crap and should be forced to retire. His lab is a double edged sword though...he lab format and the experiments are pretty nicely laid out. Each lab builds on the previous lab and you go through the design process of a 4 bit computer and them implement the 4 bit computer using VHDL. All in all, the lab was pretty fun and informative. Personally, Sandige can't lecture worth shit and doesn't answer questions (he makes other students answer questions). If for some reason you are taking him for lab, make sure to take him for lecture (as much as I hate to say that). His lab format is so different from other teachers labs and lectures that nothing will make sense if you take a different teacher for lecture.

Great guy. A self-proclaimed hillbillie, he is very approachable in office hours. His tests are a little difficult (if you finish in under 50 minutes, then you're a genius), but they are definitely fair. He is leaps and bounds better than Tucker at presenting this material. Very nice man.

This profosser pretty much sucked. He never taught much in class, just threw up a bunch of overheads, and talked about companies like HP and Xilinx all day, pretending he knew what he was talking about.

This guy is weird: weird looking, weird sounding, just plain weird. However, since he wrote the textbook used in the lecture, he is able to supplement it well with his lectures. The best part about the course is that if you do all of the assigned ETTYKs (you'll know what I mean), you should do well on his test. The midterms are challenging - you're lucky if you can finish all of the problems in the allotted 50 minutes. The final is a little more reasonable, though. It's basically a 1.5 hour midterm with a little material from the first two midterms. This guy far outpaces Dr. Tucker. I highly recommend him.

After taking the class, I got the impression that I could have learned all the material in a mere two weeks if it were presented as efficiently as Dr. Braun. Sandige lectures are in fact the exact opposite of Braun--repetitive, unstructured, and slow. Fortunately, the learning objectives for each of the tests are managable enough to catch up the week before. Sandige does do a good job of making sure students understand the material in lectures, but it has its disadvantages--it took him 40 minutes to describe the operation of an SR latch. Homework is suggested but not required. Quizzes cover a fair amount of material, but with Sandige's grading style... you always end up doing worse than expected. Sandige's grading is his worst asset in my opinion, where you are deducted an arbitrary number of error points per problem based on things you miss (especially for tiny technical details). For exams, he calculates the total number of "error" points and calculates how many percentage points they are worth. The value of 'e' varied from .5 to 1 in our class. This essentially comes down to making a class curve, but it's dissapointing when you feel like you're competing with your classmates to see who will make the most tiny mistakes. Sandige won't surprise you--but he will make you frustrated with yourself.

Another example of an intelligent guy who shouldn't teach... His book is great, but his class is worthless. Dont go to lecture, it will usually make you dumber. Previous reviews of his grading style are accurate; he is so damn lazy that he doles out points depending on how few times you "did something wrong" on the exams-- this can be anything from a wrong answer to incorrect nomenclature or even forgotten place holders... Ridiculous... You'd think the department would bust his ass for raking in money for so little work... He is basically riding the text book instead of helping students through teaching, so make sure you read it, and expect a grade that will not reflect your ability whatsoever.