O'Gorman, Kevin  

Baf

I'm only writing this to balance out the comments made by the others, as O'Gorman is really not that bad. He has lecture notes available for reviewing/printing the day before each lecture, assigns reasonable homework, and is always willing to answer a question one might have. That said, however, his answers vary between vague hints, disurbing analogies, and and Matrix-like "I can only show you the door; you have to walk through it." comments. Tests are, well, interesting. O'Gorman is fond of including obscure references to material that has little bearing on one's coding abilities, and making their point values just as signifigant as any "real" portion of a test. To be more specific, it's frustrating to fail a test because you couldn't define "class, data, and methods" when you were able to code a group of nested if statements perfectly. I wouldn't advise avoiding O'Gorman like the plague, but there are certainly better teachers out there, assuming you have a high enough registration priority to get them.

First of all, this teacher is not helpful at all. When you do ask for help he finds ways to confuse you even more. He is new but I just don't know. He acts as if everyone in the class knows everything about the material. I came in knowing nothing, however, i do know some now but I am still failing becuase of assignments and quizes that purposely contain decieving material. I would definetly not recommed taking this teacher. even though I might have to take him over again. Whatever you do stay away from this teacher. At least until he gets a few years of experience and realizes that not everyone sits at their computer all day with no life so they know how to program in every single language there is.....

If at all possible, do not take professor O

Professor O'Gorman is absolutely the worst teacher you could possibly have for an introductory course. He would be REALLY good at teaching grad students or something, but he presents some PROBLEMS to those of us who come in with no knowledge. I had no previous programming experience when i walked in, and he completely overwhelmed us on the first day and continued to do so every day after that. I sent him many emails, went to office hours, etc, and i it seemed like he was really TRYING to help me (i think he had pity on me or something). The only problem was that his attempts to help were just like everyone says-- he gives you a *hint* that is almost always impossible to figure out what he's even talking about. My problem in the beginning of the quarter was simply knowing what/how to type code out, and he would give me "hints" to solve my problem by telling me the theory behind solving the problem. Completely opposite of what i was asking him for. Near the end of the quarter he realized that a good % of our class was failing the course so he promised a new grading system where a 87% would be an A, and a 74% a B. Going into the final i had a 77% and i went to his review session and studied. He also promised us that whatever % we got on the final would add on to our midterm grades by earning back a % of the loss points equal to our grade on the final. My grade dropped from a 77% to a 72% from getting a 68% on the final, and when i emailed him saying that the numbers didn't add up he told me that "he misunderstood Prof. Nico's grading system and the points given out were not nearly as great as he had said in class". Thanks a lot. So i studied my ass off trying to hold my B and ended up with a C+. Avoid this teacher at all costs unless you already know how to program in Java before you enter the class. Even some people who knew C++ had trouble, so BE CAREFUL before taking him.

At first I hated O'Gorman because of how difficult the lectures were and how badly he explained all the Java terminology. But he quickly realized that almost no one was understanding the class, and toned things down to our level. Overall, his lectures were sometimes hard to keep up with, but generally understandable. His grading was sometimes low, but generally fair. There were a lot of things I screwed up on that were my fault. He was VERY generous with the final. Whatever percentage we got on the final, he gave us back that percent of the points we missed on the midterms. Almost too generous. A few other things... It may have been my imagination, but there were times when I asked questions that I felt like he was looking down on me, and it made me nervous to ask questions in person, sometimes. He responds to email within hours. He checks his mail multiple times a day, so if you have any problems and email him, you'll probably get a response before end of the day. This is indesribably useful in a course like CPE101. I had him his first quarter teaching, so a few things were disorganized and some of the assignments had mistakes in him. Overall, he was a good teacher. There's probably a better 101 teacher, but I would not shrink from taking O'Gorman.

O'gorman will make your cpe class the worst of your life. From Day 1 he started lecturing about programming. He is a horrible grader, In one lab there were 4 java programs due, one of mine was messed up and I got a 0 on the entire lab. His programs are not on the easy side and forget about getting help the guy is a cocksucker, he will make fun of you or run you down about how you should know this already or why you don't get it the first time he explains it. He is an impolite, terrible grader, and overall worthless at teaching the material. If I hadn't take CPE 101 before this class then I really would have been screwed.

This guy is not a good teacher. He did get better throughout the quarter though. But going from a ZERO to a ONE on a scale of ONE BILLION is not too great. The class has a whole lot of work, most of it out of class/lab time. And he cannot understand what the students' troubles with the material are. This is a 101 class, for god's sake, so people shouldn't need prior programming experience or 20+ hours HW time each week to get a decent grade in the class!

Well this is my second time taking O'gorman and he definetly got ebtter from the first quarter. If you plan on taking him I recommend you get ready for alot of work and reading. This class definelty takes some time and concentration. There is definetly alot of work but the final was open-book and open note so it wasn't too bad. Asking alot of questions is definetly the way to go becuase O'gorman will answer them. We didn't do as many applets as the other 101 classes but we did alot or programs and labs. GOOD LUCK!!

In this class there are 10 lab assignments and 8 program assignments. There is also one lab midterm, one lecture midterm, four quizes and a final. If you like to learn by yourself this is a class for you cause he can't explain anything during the first two weeks. He goes into all this other crap which you havent learned yet and uses that to explain other stuff you havent learned. If you can get passed the first two or three weeks and have learned something then you'll be fine for the rest of the quarter, otherwise you should be going to a lot of office hours.

O'gorman definetly needs to realize that students don't know EVERYTHING he does. FIrst of all if you get stuck with this guy you are better off taking it the following quarter. If you do take it plan on taking it the following quarter as well becuase most likely you will fail. I think Poly is trying to weed out all the students in this class so only the SUPER NERDS make it through. Desperately try to get a different teacher, your life will be so much easier. ALso, do not plan on recieving any help from this guy becuase he won't give you any. Ask him a question and he will say "how would you solve it?" No shit stupid ass if I knew how to solve it I wouldn't be asking you! If you have any kind of social life or any life other than school do not take him becuase you will spend all of your time doing his work. I feel for those who have taken him and for those who will take him. Good Luck(more like you better pray for a passing grade)!!!

Kevin O'Gorman "Ogar Man" is a bitter old man. This is his first year teaching. He is an unfair grader, doesn't believe in giving any help. He takes forever to respond to your e-mails and he is very bitter about it when you ask a question. He answers your question with a question. He doesn't recognize difficulty, and expects everyone to know everything about java. It is like he expects us to all be master programmers like himself. He brags about how he knows all these different languages and how he is so smart. He isn't the worst professor in the world, but he is not the best. If he tried to look at the class from a different perspective it would be much easier. He needs to be a little more lenient and try to be more helpful. He is a bit intimidating. Overall I did not enjoy this class, not because I got an F, I didn't enjoy it because he made the subject boring. He gives really long labs and assignments. You will spend each day programming for many hours. It is definitely a lot of work. And he makes this 100 level class really hard.

This teacher undoubtely sucks!!!! He made me lose my interest in computers. Becasue of him, I have decided to change my major. He can't teach!! I would NOT take this class!! Take anyone else BUT him!

Excuse me everyone. I just got out of cpe 101 and let me start by saying that i am not a CPE or CSC or even en EE major. im not even an engineer at all. im a good old political science major. the only programming experience i had was a suport class in c and unix that didnt teach me squat. this class was pretty extreme and all this crap about O'Gorman not being able to communicate to computer illiterate people is absolutely false. he knows everything, and doesnt tolerate crap. he is straight to the point. he doesnt move slow because he expects you to ask a question if you dont get it. and all you people who reemed him for talking over your heads - well if that was the case before, it is NOT now. when i read all this crap I was thinking about not taking his section but I did anyways. let me share some things he did for me. Professor O'Gorman knew me by name, helped me WHENEVER i needed help, had a sense of humor, prepared us EXTREMELY well for the tests (his puzzles are extremely helpful in making sure u understand stuff.) This review should be at the top so incoming CPE and CSC people dont avoid him because of a potentially rough first year. He is my favorite professor ever and its not just because I earned an A. He wants to know you and he wants to help you succeed. maybe you all should try to get to know him. it worked for a political science major...

To those who want to determine if O

This guy is a horrible teacher...his lectures were stale and boring, I would fall asleep eveyr lecture i went to. He always tries making these corny ass jokes which arent funny at all, and he's the only one laughing. As for the class itself, he knows what he's doing but he doesnt convey it to the students in a efficient manner. I didnt really learn anythign from his lectures. He isnt very helpful at all in office hours (even though he is available quite often), he just gives you this really vague answer and expects you to know what to do when you are totally lost. We had 9 labs, 6 projects, 4 quizzes, 2 midterms, and 1 final. The labs are extremely easy. The projects take time (which he doesnt give enough of) but are doable. The quizzes were decently difficult, and he doesnt give you close to enough time for the last quiz. The first midterm and the final were a breeze, but the second midterm totally killed me. Taking another prof would be a good idea, but the other CPE101 profs seen even worse, as far as ive heard. Take Mammen if he teaches 101, he's an awesome teacher.

O'Gorman gets a lot of flack for his teaching style. In part, I agree with it, he is somewhat confusing and impatient. On the other hand, he really prepares you for what is to come in CPE 102/103. A lot of the stuff O'Gorman has you do in 101 is not necessitated by other professors, but in the long run he makes sure you are prepared enough for the next class. If you follow along, keep up with the assignments, and ask questions in class to clarify any material you dont understand either in class or in the lab, you will do fine. He is very strict and picky about his style rules and rules for turning projects in, so its important to read his web page and style rules in the book and make sure they are followed to the letter every time.

this guy is pretty bad. i'm reading the book and it's like japanese to me. also, when i ask him for help, he talks to you like you're some computer literate fool. i mean, if i was computer literate and good in programming, then why would i ask for help??? anyways, ya, he totally makes fun of u i guess in a sarchastic way, and he expects you to know these things from reading, i dunno. also, i felt intimidated when i always asked him a question or for help, because i knew that he would make me feel like a complete idiot at the end of the question...and that's not cool. so i stopped asking in general. just go to turoting, it's easier and a lot more helpful, and also, buy one of those study manuals from the book store, cuz they kinda help. i wouldn't take him if my life depended on it..

I am a very hard working student who earned straight A's through community college. However, I was very dissapointed in taking Dr. O'Gorman's CPE 101 course. He is by far the worst teacher I have had at Cal Poly. First of all, the labs and projects are not clearly spelled out. I spent half of the time trying to understand what he wanted on the assignments. Additionally, I did not get my second midterm grade until AFTER the final. He was 6 weeks behind in grading the entire quarter. I ended up with a B in his class ONLY because I spent numerous hours in lab and went to tutoring every evening it was offered. I do not understand some of the comments posted saying that he is a good teacher because he simply is not. A good programmer maybe, but not a good teacher. TAKE DR. MAMMEN!!! You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

Why is this man still [teaching]?

this guy takes big black cock up the ass....and he loves it. i think i have a C in the class right now, but that's only because i work DAY AND NIGHT for most ofthe week...

CPE and CSC Majors.....BEWARE! If you want a better and decent teacher, take Mammen above all people. Take Staley if you get a chance and if you're willing to get a challange. Seriously, you will suffer in this class because of how bad of a teacher he is. Of course, you don't have to believe me and take him...be my guest. I can promise you that you'll be prepared for 102 but you won't like the unneeded struggles along the way.

Avoid this teacher by all means possible. He will bend you over!!!!!!!!!!!1

Even though I had prior experience in programming, I still came out with a B-. This guy was too picky in everything. You could not get a perfect on anything. I GOT -1 ON MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. omg. what the hell was that. and he wouldn't give me back the point. Also took off a point because I didn't know what building my final was in, even though I knew it and didn't bother to write it down because the question was What ROOM is your final in, not building number. geez. the programs were fairly difficult. I solved 4/6 before it was due, but didn't get full credit. Lecture was a joke. He did not teach. Labs were helpful to yourself but not if you didn't know what you were doing. Half my people failed the class halfway into the quarter and stopped showing up. They all changed majors too. WHATEVER YOU DO! DON'T TAKE HIM!

He does explain the material well but as a person he is just an a**hole. He doesn't want to help you at all. If you need help, go to tutoring or another teacher or a friend. He won't give you 10 seconds of his time. I wouldn't reccomend.

Most of what I will write has already been written by prior students, but it can't be said enough. O'Gorman is by far the worst professor I've ever had, in both relating to people in general and teaching material clearly. I believe he's good intentioned, but working in the computer industry his whole life has not improved his ability to deal with people and their problems. 101 is an especially difficult course for Engineering majors who have never seen programming languages before, and even though I'd taken an introductory java course before, I was lost within the first week. The problem with O'Gorman is that he knows TOO MUCH about the subject. He is a genius when it comes to anything computers, but that is the reason he can't relay the information to people just beginning the subject. He would probably be a decent teacher of higher-level classes in CSC, when the students were already rooted in programming basics. His inability to pass information to the less-experienced programmer is not the only reason O'Gorman has low ratings, however. His whole personality, including his sense of humor, seems threatening from day 1. You always feel like he is going to explode or make you feel stupid for answering wrong. To be fair, he only got angry or made people feel dumb a few times during the quarter, but the fact still remains that you always feel threatened to ask a dumb question for some uncertain reason. O'Gorman isn't really that bad of a guy, and he's an excellent programmer, but neither of those are his complete job description. He is a terrible teacher, and therefore I suggest Polyratings allows a new grade for students to rate professors by: the O. When a student gives a professor an O, they get a negative GPA somewhere between -5.0 and -23.0 to let everyone know that this teacher is an "O'Gorman".

IT REALLY SUCKS BECAUSE MOST OF THE TIME YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE O'GORMAN FOR CPE101/102 BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT TEACHES IT. ALL I CAN SAY IS... WAIT A QUARTER! The department probably feels bad for him and stuffs him into teaching the CPE classes in the later quarters when less people need the class because they don't want to fire him this close to retirement. I guess there are some morals left in Cal Poly, too bad it doesn't benefit any of us. Do anything at ALL costs not to take this professor! If you take it, you will be so sorry that a D or F is going on your transcript. The sad thing is... that's the best thing that could happen. You'll go out of this class knowing absolutely nothing and feeling ACADEMICALLY AND FISCALLY RAPED! It is the other professors' jobs to clean up the mess than O'Gorman has created. I cannot believe this bitter old man has still not been terminated by his department. This has to be the most horrible teacher on campus. Why doesn't he just resign? Better yet, why doesn't the College of Engeineering do it's job and get rid of this piece of shit excuse for a professor. He has such a prickish attitude and his teaching style feels rushed, and he makes you feel like an absolute dumbass for not knowing the material before taking the class. No teaching preparation whatsoever. If you wait in the 20 student line to ask him a question, he'll just tell you to look in your book and figure it out. My favorite quote of his was, "it shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out. It's pretty straight-forward." and then he left back to his desk making it sound like that was an adequate response to a specific question. That was when I stopped going to his class and decided to not waste the hours of my life there. TAKE HIM AND YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DID! POOR FOUNDATION = POOR STRUCTURED LEARNING LATER ON

This guy is terrible. I mean, it's my fault that I had 22 units plus senior project and didnt have time to dedicate to the class but seriously. This guy does not know how to explain the material. He gives some of the hardest programs for a CPE 101 class and doesn not explain how to do them. The labs are insaine and again, no help from him. His teaching style is sink or swim and I feel so sorry for the csc majors who get this guy first. I'm an EE with a Power concentration, I don't need csc at all, so why take this shitty course??? I don't know, but what ever you do AVOID AT ALL COST!!!!!!!

This bastard sucks ass. He is by far THE worst professor I have ever had in my extensive academic career. His ability to recognize and clarify student difficulties is severely lacking, but is compensated by for his blatant arrogance. If you take O'Gorman, there will always be the know-it-alls. They suck up to O'Gorman constantly up to the point where I believe O'Gorman gives them a better grade because of it. Although I received a C+ in the class, I believe I deserve an A in the course because many students taking Pokorny's class had it much easier and had a huge curve at the end. The word on the street is that Pokorny curves can bring a D up to an A. I strongly advise you to refrain from attending O'Gorman's class during any interval of time where his period may occur. And when I say period I mean PMS. He always has PMS. So pretty much don't go to his class. If you are the type to degrade yourself in the eyes of other students and the people who matter, then go ahead and suck O'Gorman's ass up to the point to the grade where he will give you an A. Java programming is very hard. If you have to program Java don't take O'Gorman unless you are a know-it-all.

The man tries to teach while his attempts may seem fruitless. I don't think it comes as naturally for him as it does with other professors because he's expecting top quality all the time. I do think he is approachable during office hours: just don't ask stupid questions, otherwise he'll think you're wasting your time and not reading the Java book. This was my second time re-taking this course from him (I was among the many students who were massacred by his grading) and he is definitely improving. He's willing to get better if you hint to him on what to improve. Although he is pretty vague at times, he's actually pretty helpful if you ask a complex question (remember: O'Gorman can't think simple stuff). Do all his labs, try to stay awake during lectures, and ask him good questions. I'm not saying you'll get an A (I only got an A because I worked my butt off) for sure, but it does help to not think of O'Gorman as such a bad guy.

Out of the following CPE101 professors: Mammen, O'Gorman, Buckalew, O'Gorman is by far the smartest one. Out of the same set, he is by far the worst at conveying introductory material. I think O'Gorman should have a speciality class where only the computer nerds that have experience with programming and Unix can take him. He doesn't ASSUME that you have experience with these, but his actions convey his assumption of it. He goes through the intro material in a really snotty "you should know this already" fashion. The reason I think it mainly comes off like this is because it's like knowing something for so long and then looking at a group of dumb asses who haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about. For god sakes, they have to tell you what an operating system is at the beginning of the quarter... do you really think these people are all ready for programming?

O'Gorman is a great teacher. At first I found myself lost in the material but I went into office hours quite a bit where he was able to help me out. The tests were pretty easy and so was the final. Definetly take O'Gorman. He is a genius. I find myself quoting him sometimes.

O'Gorman is pretty rough, he expects you to understand everything the first time around. If you have trouble understanding things, I recommend going to tutoring, which is what I DIDN'T do, and ended up almost failing the class. If you're new to programming logic and working with commandline stuff, try to avoid O'Gorman. However, since he works you so hard, you're better off in the long run. It's all your choice; I wanted to get worked hard, but I didn't want to run the risk of failing (and almost did). He knows his stuff himself, but how the hell did he get a teaching credential? I have no clue. If you have to take just 101, you might want to avoid this guy.

If 101 is the only programming you will ever do, DO NOT TAKE O GORMAN. He is a hard teacher he grades hard, but if you work hard, and have a bit of knack for programming you will pass and you will know a lot more then people in your other classes. He doesn't convey information well, but he is an excellent programmer. Experienced programmers will love him, you can talk to him about any programming project and get good feedback. If you really wanna learn how to program take ogorman IF you don't wanna learn, take someone else.

O'Gorman = biggest douchebag in the universe

Professor O'Gorman is (as you can see reading these reviews) somewhat notorious in the set of CPE 101-102 teachers. My overall impression is that he SUCKS ass at teaching... hard. I attened every lecture with attentive enthusiasm, and visited office hours at least once a week. I tried damn hard to learn from him, but all I really learned was that such a thing is impossible because he doesn't teach. He seems far more interested in gloating about his extensive knowledge of programming and above average intelligence, than helping students. The only way to learn the material if you are taking him is to program, program, program, and hope for the best.

This is a pretty time consuming and difficult class, but if you put in the time and effort and ask the appropriate questions Dr. O'Gorman is great. He is ALWAYS available to help students, just go to his office, if he's not teaching he's probably there. Ask intelligent questions so he knows that you are trying and have done some research. Finally, a suggestion to incoming freshmen who have never had computer science: Do a little research before the class starts so you are somewhat familiar with the language because Dr. O'Gorman goes fast. The good thing about him going fast though is that you learn a ton of material.

TERRIBLE

O'Gorman is actually a great teacher. He presents the material well, and unlike some CPE teachers, he actually goes through and writes codes WITH the class. He doesn't just slap some examples on powerpoint and try to talk through everything. He writes in front of the class to show and thoroughly explain why he is writing what he's writing. Yes, it's true that he isn't the best at answering questions constructively, but he has admitted to that and is making an honest effort to improve himself. Take him if you want to learn. Just be ready to work hard.

This Prof. sucks. he is absolutely the worst professor for teaching. If you have to take CPE 101 and he is the last professor there is available, take CPE 101 the next quarter. He is not able to asses the classes weaknesses and teach the subject matter that the class is not understanding. Instead the students that have had programming experience become the class that O'Gorman teaches to. Projects become exponentially harder as the time goes on. I tried to listen and pay attention to the lectures that he gave, they are impossible to follow, and I was more confused after then when I started. Do yourself a favor...do not take this class with O'Gorman as a prof.

If you have NEVER taken a programming class before, DO NOT take O'Gorman. He teaches as if he believes the entire class has programmed before and he's just refreshing your memory. He also has a tendency to explain WHAT something does, but not HOW to implement it in your programs. If I had never seen any of this stuff before, I would be completely lost in his class. When people say he cannot teach, they are right. If you've taken a programming class before (maybe AP Computer Science in high school, or a class at a community college), you will probably be okay in his class. Just be ready to put in some work when the course comes to something you don't understand/have never done before. If you have never programmed before, avoid him at all costs.

O'Gorman had this class at 10000 MPH for students that have never taken a programming course before. I plan on retaking the course with a different professor.

he gives you 2 midterms and a final. About 5 large programs per quarter and about 10 labs. If you know C you will be fine, but for starters like me, try to avoid o'gorman even if it sets you back a bit. I disregarded everyone else and thought that if i put the time and effort i would pass but i ended up getting withdrawn from the course, who knows why, and with a crappy GPA for that quarter. His lectures are horrible and he does not help people who are new to programming.

O'Gorman sucks! He doesn't know how to lecture at all and doesn't really care whether you get it or not. I had to pretty much teach myself by reading the book and getting help from the internet. If you want a real professor DON'T take O'Gorman!

DO NOT take this professor! Do whatever it takes to not take him because he just simply sucks. He cannot teach at all and he does not explain anything when you ask him for help. If you know C then I guess it would be okay, but even so try to avoid him.

Absolutely DO NOT take kogorman. He is the WORST teacher i have ever had. He sucks mad d*** as a teacher if you can even call what he does teaching. Its more like him doing a bunch of programs, asking you if you have any question, and if you do then he will basically give you an explanation that his harder to understand than the problem and then get pissed off if you still don't get it. If he is the last possible teacher that you can take then wait till next quarter because you'll probably end up taking the class again.

Dr. O'Gorman is seriously the WORST "teacher" that I have ever had the displeasure to be "taught" by. I have learned little, if anything from him. Teaching is not his strong suit, but confusing seems to be. He is very unclear in his assignments and questions. His lectures consist of big words that remain unexplained and long, boring stories brought on by one of the many tangents he falls off on. Unless you already know everything you need in order to pass this course, and don't plan on learning anything, then don't take O'Gorman's class. I have never had such little respect for a teacher in my life(And I have had teachers who read straight from the book, teachers who knew nothing about the subject they tried to teach, and even a teacher who was arrested for having sexual relations with a student of the same sex.) If you are stuck with this teacher because of low priority(as was i) or any other circumstances, I can only pray for you and wish you luck. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE...DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TAKE THIS "TEACHER'S" CLASS!!!

This guy is so far out in left field he's in the parking lot. He's fresh out of industry and speaks as if every one of us already has a Ph.D like him. I'm sick of his higfalutin language and attitude, he has an enormous ego and won't get over his previous experience. While he is a brand new teacher, it's still no excuse for a lack of communication skills. If you already know what you're doing, its ok to take his class, he doesn't help you much in the lab either and he has this stupid ass way of answering questions in the lab using cups and stuff. If you know you're gonna need a lot of help, don't take him, he's really bad at it.

I agree with just about everybody else that has left a comment except fo rhtat one. I believe that O'Gorman needs to have a little more experience before he starts teaching htis course. This course is extremely difficult for those people who have had no prior programming experience. I would not recommend taking O'Gorman becuae I just believe that his ability to understand that students need HELP not just comments and mysterious hints. If O'gorman were to give a little more help with his assignments and actually guide the students there would be alot more people doing well in his class. I believe that the people that are going to do well in his class are those who already KNOW what they are doing. this class is very difficult so taking it without any prior experience and with O'Gorman is going to almost definetly result in a failure. Although he did cut some people some slack with the new grading of the Final and all but I doubt that will happen to often. O'Gorman is not a bad person he is just too new in teaching and he believes that every student understands every word that he is saying. Like the previous comment, some people actually do have social lives and don't play computer games and learn programming from "FOR DUMMIES" books. If you do take O'gorman plan on spending alot of time trying to learn it for yourself. Believe me I did, it was just too late. GOOD LUCK!!!! (youll need it)

THE MOST HORRIBLE TEACHER EVER!!!!!! If you've never had a ny programming exp., PLEAS do not consider taking O'Gorman. He has no communication skills, and is way out of touch with the students. Never helpful, it seams like everytime he opens his mouth, you are just confused a little bit more. If it wasn't for the texbook and help from other students, I would be really f@*#ed! I am f_ _ _. He needs to pull his head out of his ass and deflate that ego of his. Not everybody has spented every waking moment of their lives in from of their computer. So take it from me, and don't take his class!!!

DO NOT TAKE THIS INSTRUCTOR. I WAS, AND STILL AM, STRESSED BEYOND BELIEF BECUASE OF THIS CLASS. I just don't understand why dr. o'gorman refuses to provide any useful help for students. sure he'll be there in his office very often and he is willing to answer questions but his answers proved you with nothing but confusment. at the end of a conversation with him you wonder if you are actually in the right major. he actually hinted towards switching majors instead of trying to help me out with what i was doing. I would most definetly NOT recommend O'gorman to anyone i knew. DO NOT get stuck taking his class. Like the previous comments, NOT everyone thinks it's "cool" to brag about their computer and not everyone stays up all night playing stupid games and chatting with 40 year old overweight men who act like teenagers. it is really frustrating to have this teacher. trust me.

First of, O'Gorman is *not* the Antichrist; it is possible to learn in his class, but it's not easy. His examples are somewhat muddled, and he tends to get off topic to explain something that is easier for him to explain, even if it bears no relevence to the actual question. The book is worthless; I never read it, only used it as a reference (and a poor one at that). Your best bet is to continually ask questions; if no one asks he will assume you know and move on. There was a breaking point at about the fourth week that someone asked "What exactly *are* objects?" and realizing that he'd been talking over a lot of peoples heads, he slowed down and explained himself. Ask questions, try to keep him on topic, and start your programs early (you need at least 3 days, no less. Trust me)

Not only was O'Gorman the worst teacher in the history of the world, he left me woefully unprepared for CPE 102. I have Myers right now who's supposed to be a fairly good teacher, and i can't even understand 1/2 the words that he says because O'Gorman never mentioned anything about this stuff. Myers always says stuff like "you guys learned this in 101" and everyone in the class who isn't from O'Gorman nods, whereas those of us from O'Gorman's class throw eachother confused looks and wonder what the hell we're getting ourselves into. Thanks a lot O'Gorman. Also, if you ask this guy a question he is the cockiest asshole in the entire world. He will look at you like you are the stupidest person that has ever lived because you're not sure what the hell he is talking about. Teachers in this subject need to learn how to explain things in ENGLISH, in simple terms, before they start talking in java-style language. It's like watching the spanish channel half the time... you hear that they're speaking, maybe pick up a word or 2, and don't understand a god damn thing. O'Gorman sucks and don't take him if you have any chance whatsoever.

This teacher was HORRIBLE!!!! I did programming before this class....and after I feel I lost what I had allready known. Take Fisher if you can!!!!

If you take someone else, do so. This guy is very rude, and will never help you...

f**king worst prof i ever encounter. don't take this f**k!!!!

DON'T TAKE O'GORMAN... He should NOT be teaching

Yes he is a jerk with an odd sense of humor, but it can be done and if you have some experience you will come out ok. If you don't know shit about programing and are actually going to do the programs for yourself, BEWARE. Only take this class when you have the time and will power to learn something totally new that will be very difficult to grasp at first. Everybody: do good on the quizes and midterms!

O'Gorman is an asshole!!! Avoid this bitch at all costs. He assigns countless programs and collects and grades all the labs. If you even have one minor mistake, you pay dearly for it and he is rude and doesn't help students. If his punk ass ever peeled his beedy eyes away from his computer screen, he might see that not everybody is a computer nerd and that most people need help. He speaks as if we all have P.H.D's and doesn't gove a rats ass about students. Hey O'Gorman, you prick, if you read this, retire your old ass. You'll be happier, and so will the students who don't have to take your sorry ass for this class. For those of you who get stuck with this dick, I feel sorry for you and wish you luck, cause you WILL need it.

this dude sucks. i was in his class for the first two weeks, but my hornet account never worked. so i asked him to extend the deadline for me for the lab because i couldn't turn it in, eventhough i had finished the lab. i showed it to him. i offered to email it to him through polymail. but no. he wanted it his way, and so i couldn't do the labs. no thanks asswipe. i promptly dropped his class. his lectures suck balls too.

Let me start off by saying that this was my time in a java class. I went to O'gorman's class with a feeling of dread after reading all of the poly ratings on this guy. He's lecturing style was tough to get used too (He dived right into the material without really explaining java), but after reading some chapters in the book and struggling with labs, his class became much more understandable and beneficial. I found that O'gorman was quite easy to get in touch with (office hours, ICQ, or his phone#). While he is not extremely helpful in answering questions (none of the teachers really helped at all), he will guide you down the right track, eventually. His class might have been the best choice, because we had higher average scores on both midterms than the other sections.

Prof. O'Gorman has a great attitude, he's worked in industry most of his life, so he has some great stories/examples and really understands what needs to be done to get projects to work. If you have no experience with programming, he probably starts at a little too high a level, but i hear that's true with the other teachers, too.

I went into this class with no previous programming experiences. This guy is straight up monotone and boring. Lecture is pretty much useless cause he runs it off his notes on excel, which is online. about halfway through the quarter everyone understood this fact, that his lecture's are bs, cuz nobody shows up anymore. i say all you need to do is go to the lab and do the programs and projects. he has a lot more work than other csc101 teachers. the projects take a long time, i usually spend around 8hrs. his quizzes and exams aren't bad, very basic concepts. the final was tricky, because problems were very simple but tests you on a lot of concepts.

GRADING: 1% for each lab (10); 3% for each program (8); 2% for each quiz (4); 15% for midterms (2); 30% for final. If you enjoy his grading, be my guest--especially spending approx. 10 hours on each lab when they're worth 1% each. >>>>>> I can't tell you how much I wish I had another teacher besides O'Gorman. O'Gorman is a new teacher but he really doesn't know how to be an effective instructor. One thing I hate about him is that he doesn't CLARIFY what HE WANTS. Take this analogy, if you're working for your boss and he wants you to do something, you should create a program according to your boss' detailed specification. For example, how does your boss want it to "spit out" (basically..what does it really do). Compare to O'Gorman, some instructions are SO vague that when you turn it in, you get deducted for knick-knacks that you didn't know you have to ask. Of course, you can ask him to "clarify" stuff but if you ask him many times ... ready for his "irritated mood." If you can, take teachers like Mammen who IS new but knows how to teach.

This guy was just horrible. It's a good thing I dropped his class as soon as I could since I was completely lost. As it turned out, there was an alternative class to meet this requirement. He just does not know how to teach even if his life depended on it. His lectures were way too dry and you will just get lost if you tried to follow. There are better professors out there for this class so do whatever it takes to avoid O'Gorman. 101 is a tough class in itself, but he just makes life that much tougher for you.

wtf mate

Prof. O'Gorman is one of the worst teachers you can ever have. The sad part about it is that when you come to his office hours, he goes off tangent and never "clearly" answer your questions. Or if he does, he makes you feel like a complete idiot or doens't "give you an answer." There are much better teachers out there and I highly suggest you to take them other than O'Gorman. He's very unhelpful and if you're not a CSC major, well, you'll have to struggle hours on end with those projects.

Because this guy is so smart, he will make you feel like an absolute dumbass during his lecture. when you ask him a question, he will ask you back how to solve the problem...wtf.....Going to his office hours is an absolute waste of time. You better go to Mannen because he actually sat down and work with you. Try to avoid him if you can, if not, good luck.

What isn't there to say about this bitter old man? He will make your life an absolute hell. Honestly, just about everyone hates him. His lectures are just about worthless and the way he presents the class initially leaves programming n00bs clueless. His grading style is also just as horrible as his attitude towards his students. His instructions on what he wants out of his programs are vague and are obviously written with little regard. He asks that his programs be bullet-proof, but he doesn't even test for bullet-proofing. He does so many unnecessary things in such a vague manner that you usually don't know really what to do. When you ask him a question, he fails to answer it or he just *YELLS* at you. One of the students minimized a window that didn't pertain to his question and O'Gorman actually yelled at him at the top of his lungs! Don't even get me started on how he treats his students when they ask for help -- because he simply doesn't. After the first week, just about everyone realizes how worthless he is and stops going. If you are new to Java or programming in general, *DON'T* take him. Nearly 2/3 of his students failed his class or was unable to get a grade that was over a C-. I could honestly go on for hours on how awful of a teacher he really is. If you feel the need to appreciate your future/previous professors, *do* take him. It will make you realize how good you had/have it. If you have to take this class with O'Gorman, I would highly suggest you either try to crash into another class or just take a break from 101/102 for the quarter (it's really *that* bad).

If you have to take cpe 101, avoid this guy at all costs.

This guy's name is practically an expletive among CSC students: you call someone an O'Gorman, you're going to get your butt kicked. There are many tangents I could go off on about this odious little man: how he obviously has little to no teaching ability, intellectually arrogant and personally unlikeable to the core, a shame to this school. I could go on at great length about how he arrived 15 minutes late to administer a common test, or how he sat behind a computer stupefied while on another test a bug popped up in the online testing program that ate my (and other students') code, or how he downright refuses to give any sort of reasonable help or advice to those who come into office hours. I could also talk about his disdain for people who struggle in his classes, his evil mastermind visage and stupid little train conductor cap (or golf cap). But I won't. I will just say this: right now he is only a lecturer at Cal Poly, and there is a chance he won't become a professor here. Also, the guy looks pretty old, how much longer can he stay a-kickin'? If O'Gorman doesn't make you hate Computer Science and your own life, then you are either an expert or hopped up on self-esteem pills. One last thing--don't drop out of CSC after having him for a class--he is not indicative of the high quality professors we have here, such as Kurt Mammen, Clint Staley, Gene Fisher, John Connely, et al. Stay in for another quarter and try to get a class from one of the above mentioned profs. As for O'Gorman, hey, Brady left, so someone has to take over the title of Cal Poly's Most Deservedly Hated Professor. If I used profanity, I might be tempted to use it here.

what a faggot!

O gorman has a real problem with talking about things that don't matter. It's quite a challenge to keep awake in class, which ultimately ended in me not going to class, and then failing the course. Even when I went to class, tried to take notes, and went to the labs, I was still lost on the programs. DO NOT GET OGORMAN. Mammen's students always seem to understand what's going around them more, and they also seem to pass. O gorman puts stupid things on his midterms, probably worth 5-10 points out of a 100 point test. But still. One question on a midterm was the date, time, and location of our final. I had no idea. Make sure you go to the labs, because just attendance can get you full credit on them. The lab points will save you if you bomb the programs and tests (which will probably happen if you've got ogorman).

i think everyone came into this class expecting to be skinned, bent over, and fudge-packed by ogorman. and to be honest, most of the evaluations are right, especially about his personality. quite cocky, and not a lot of sense of humor, but he's not quite the anti-christ. i pulled a B+ in his class with no experience, and yes, i worked my butt off. but when i went to his office hours, he was decently helpful, and he doubtlessly knows his stuff. just rub him the right way. stick ur nose up his ass or something. i gave him a C; i dont think he deserves all the "condemnation" that he has been getting, but he's definitly got some work to do in both the teaching and personality traits.

Ogorman knows what he is doing but has trouble teaching his students. Avoid this teacher if you have no programming experience.

If you are already familiar with the material Java or at least C, and enjoy programming at heart, you will probably actually like this professor. I would have to say, the way he teaches it with Classes first would be very good with those who already know basic code, but for people who have never before seen it in their life they probably will struggle with it. Kinda picky with grading. To summarize, not a bad teacher if you already know basic code, but if you don't, you're in for trouble.

You can tell O'Gorman has spent a lot of time in industry. He's not the best choice for those of you who have no programing experience. I knew basic Java from high school and O'Gorman did a great job of expanding on it. I do belive, however, if I had not that previous experience, I would have struggled.

His personality in a nutshell: moody (I swear men PMS!), anal (he himself announces his many pet peeves), monotone (I sometimes fell asleep in class), and intelligent (he has experience with the industry and therefore knows his shit). His teaching in a nutshell: unclear and incoherent. My advice to you: go to tutoring very frequently and read the text frequently, even though it sucks. Ask O'Gorman questions if you aren't deathly afraid of him--he'll sometimes answer you clearly. Take careful notes in class, even though O'Gorman basically talks about the text in his PowerPoint presentations (note: they have some coding errors, so that doesn't really help...). Get your shit done QUICKLY--he assigns programs one after the other if you don't have good time management.

Again O'Gorman is not a good teacher at all to take if you don't have any programming experience. His lectures are ridiculous and he expects you to have read and understood everything in the book. If you have a question, he just answers back in a question and your question never gets answered. Especially if you don't understand what he is talking about or the material. He assigns way to many programs one right after the other and he is by far the harshest grader ever. AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS.

Just like everyone else has said, O'Gorman has no idea how to teach. All he does is read slides that he downloaded straight from the author (and the slides aren't even right). I was failed for "unauthorized collaboration" only cause i had this prick. The guy that i talked to was never even aware of what was going on because he had another teacher. O'Gorman is just a prick who decided to teach because he had nothing better to do, probably due to the fact that he couldn't find work (this is because he does know what he is doing in the real world, just not the classroom). I hate this man with a passion and I will be stuck with him again, simply because he is the only one available to teach it. You would be better off not taking the class if he is the only one teaching it.

What an ass hole! I don't know what the hell his problem is. He sucks at teaching, and gets pissed at his students for it. There are some nice guys out there who aren't too good at teaching, but O'gorman is a grumpy old bastard who sucks at teaching. Take this class and say good bye to your social life. I work day in and out on all his flippin' labs and i'm still failing. Oh, and don't bother asking him any questions, because he won't answer it, and he gets bitchy while not answering it. I'd seriously wait a few quarters until you can get a different professor. It's definitely worth the wait.

O'Gorman is definitely THE WORST teacher at Cal Poly. You'd think a school of such caliber wouldn't hire a teacher as horrible as O'Gorman, but they did. And now we suffer. He is a very mean, mean, mean man. He refused to help anyone becuase they "should just know it". It was like he refused to sink to our level and teach us the basics of programming, ignoring the fact that, that was the point of the class. I took this class my freshman year and failed. I'm currently retaking it with Pokorny. He is a god compared to O'Gorman. About 1/4 of my class are people who have failed O'Gorman's class and are retaking it now. DO NOT take the Ogre. If he is the only one teaching it, wait. Otherwise you'll fail it and have to retake it anyways. Hopefully if we keep the bad evaluations coming, Cal Poly will wake up and fire this man, or at least make sure he never make tenure.

One of worst professors at Cal Poly, O'Gorman only exists in this university to make your lives unbearable, especially for those with no programming experience. He has no business teaching this class as he will only make your lives miserable with his dry lectures, ridiculously worthless assignments, and his reluctance to answer question. He expects way too much out of you (although this class is supposed to be that much demanding) and will leave you stuck if you ever get stuck. Avoid him at all costs.

Pretty much if you have no programming experience, please don't take this man's class. He simply cannot teach, and makes his students feel stupid if they ask him any questions. You're better off just taking the withdraw F than try to learn from this man in 10 weeks. AVOID O'GORMAN AT ALL COSTS!!!

THE MOST HORRIBLE PRICK, I MEAN "TEACHER", ON CAMPUS! What a cocksucker! This guy really should get another job. Trust me, if you take him, you will regret it. DO NOT SIGN UP FOR ANY OF HIS CLASSES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!

I don't even think he means to have as bad of an attitude as he does, but the truth is, he's downright intimidating and his teaching skills are not up to par at all. Teaching is a hard job. Some people just aren't cut out for it. O'Gorman is one of those people. I would probably get tired of my life too if I had to put up with some of the idiots that are our future engineers today too though. Nevertheless, he sucks big, fat, juicy balls, and like the post below says, Poly Ratings needs a new category of suckiness so that students can effectively rate Ogre Man.

I don't see why everyone has a beef with Dr. O'Gorman. Sure he is tough, but guess what kids IT'S COLLEGE! Professors don't have time to hold your hand through everything. I had no prior experience with programming and I came out fine. He isn't intimadating at all. He is very available to help you if you are willing to go talk to him. I think Dr. O'Gorman cares very much about the subject and wants to produce good programmers and not just pass some half baked "haXorZ" into the realm of computing. Grow a pair and take O'Gorman. I must say, however, that the man is probably the most accident prone person on campus.

Professor O'gorman obviously knows quite a bit about programing. However, he is horrible at teaching it. While he does seem to want his students to succeed, teaching just isn't his thing. Most everything I learned in this class was on my own out of the book or else from students with previous programing experience. He is also quite unaproachable and while make you feel stupid if you ask a question. The class is a lot of work but the material really isn't that difficult. I had no programming experience and was able to get an A. Just do all the work, although it is quite time consuming.

The guy knows his stuff, but man, he can be a complete dick. His "help" is a lot of criticism. Mostly, "READ THE BOOK!" or something to that effect. Provided he actually helps you though, he's very useful. Understanding him isn't terribly difficult, but pray that you do, otherwise he just rips on you.

I'm not sure, but I don't think that the school the reviewer below mentioned actually exists. Anyway, if you've taken classes with teachers like Mammen, Staley, Fisher, or Turner and you still think that O'Gorman is a great teacher, you should check yourself in at the Atascadero Mental Hospital.

O'gorman's class was pretty rough. I found it was a lot easier for those who had programming experience prior to the class that enjoyed it. I had no programming experience, however, and i spent almost every night in tutoring getting help for my programs. One thing i did notice was that after coming out of his class, we knew about five times as much as the other class did, which put us ahead. So while the class was hell, we got a very good foundation from this class. I would recommend taking him if you are a CSC or CPE major. For EE's and other majors, i reccommend someone else. Overall, he taught us a lot, though the class was hell.

I'm still waiting for this bastard to get a heart attack and keel over. Yes, "Ogre Man" is the only person who has made me feel about him this way.

I've already taken the 100 level CPE courses but I'd thought I'd post something in response to the bitter freshman who have taken this course and who feel that O'Gorman is "the biggest douchebag in the universe" or that he should "get a heart attack and keel over." First of all, kids, he's a respectable man and yes he does need to work at teaching, but that doesn't mean that you should display your immaturity while talking about this genius. Secondly, O'Gorman pushes you to do things that no other 100 level teacher does: believe me, I know, I've already finished all the stuff. Sure you'll get a low grade in his class, but you SHOULD come out knowing a lot of stuff. It's not about the grade kids: It's about LEARNING.

For students that have never programed before or have not even seen or heard about this class is great if you won't to fail. It is not an easy class, but O'Gorman makes it even tougher. His lectures are completly useless, unless you can follow in computer talk. He only takes in the C-Language, not English. I figured out how to pass though, just turn in all you bi-weekly programs, make sure you lab quizes compile (they don't have to be correct, just have no errors), and be there for any lecture quizes. I would not recomend him to any normal engineering student like myself becuase he does not try to help the students who are hearing this shit for the first time. If you like programing and have done it before then he is pretty cool. He is always around to help and he gives out very challenging programs. Overall spring quarter the mean for his three classes was 61% the median was 64% and 30 kids had below 60%, or failing and I don't know if he curves.

Dr. O'Gorman...where to start? Everything you read about him is absolutely true -- both the good and the bad. The man was once a highly competent programmer, I'm sure, but he seems to be a bit behind on the times. He enjoys showing off his superior intellect, making students feel like dullards in the process, and his arrogance can be overwhelming at times. That being said, he makes himself highly available to students both during regularly scheduled office hours and on odd days. Plus, he responds to email in a timely fashion and is even on ICQ if you need help at home. Those who had experience in C (or anything, for that matter) had only minor difficulties, I've heard, but for those like me who have never been exposed to this material, this course was agonizingly painful. I got nothing out of lectures because I couldn't understand anything that came out of his mouth, and the only reason I learned anything was because I sought massive amounts of tutoring. Take advantage of the tutoring lab from 7-9; it's enormously helpful. And seriously, this class requires a LOT of time. You have weekly lab programs and bi-weekly projects, so don't procrastinate. Unfortunately, all these programs are worth so very little of your grade; most of it is based on lab and lecture quizzes, which are fairly reasonable, but not easy. The final this quarter wasn't too bad, except for the last problem, in which we wrote an entire program by hand, which sucks. He posts class standings and updates regularly, and you'll be shocked at how many people are not passing, but there is a bit of a curve at the end, so it's not as bad as you think. Overall, I do not recommend this professor for anyone without experience, or anyone who waited like me to take this support course until they were an upper-classman and was swamped with major course work. He's not the anti-christ though, so if you have some background, you should be just fine.

Okay well, let's see...how to start...I came into this class actually reading all the Polyratings here. I expected a huge asshole, someone who wouldn't help in the least, and I thought I would be absolutely dead for this quarter. But then I realized that absolutely none of that was true. I previously took Mammen and failed, but I took O'Gorman and got a B. You can judge that for yourself. He is extremely approachable and was always helpful in office hours. People were saying his lectures don't help; well, newsflash guys, they do. I learned a lot more about programming than ever because of this man. He teaches you in a style that will prepare you for the real world. Apparently, a lot of people can't comprehend this fact, and expect all programs to be like "Hello, world". If you just listen to him in lecture, you'll be fine. Even if you get confused, again, he's very approachable. I'm more than appalled at the inane comments about O'Gorman. As for the workload, be sure to make the lab quizzes and bi-weekly programs your top priority; they're worth the most. Stay on top of things and don't procrastinate, and you'll be fine. To any future Freshman thinking about writing a review for O'Gorman; grow up, and stop being such an absolute idiot and jump on a bandwagon of "LOL THIS TEACHER SUX U GUYS".

O'Gorman is the man! He's knows his stuff like no other. You will be challenged in the class, and you will learn C like the back of your hand. His programs are very difficult towards the end of the quarter. Word of advice, when he gives you 2 weeks to do a program, start it asap! His tests are fair. Great teacher! I would take him for any class I could!

He is probably one of the worst teachers I have ever had. He is a complete idiot. He never expalins things in class. He often contradicts himself. In my opinion he is too old teach and should do us all a favor and retire.

O Gorman is a Great Teacher, i promise you if you get an A or B in his class you'll do really well any C or C++ class.

He is an incredibly hard grader. he makes the class way harder than it needs to be. if you don't want your gpa to drop don't take him. also he is a lousy teacher. he is such a jerk. if you ask him for help he will just make you feel incompetent and tell you your stupid.

Biggest douchebag ever!

O'Gorman cant teach for shit...

Don't take his class. He the worst professor i have ever had. He cannot teach.

Throughout all my schooling career, I have not come across a worst teacher in my life. I've had bad teachers in the past, but O'Gorman is absolutely the worst. It's not hard to tell that he really knows his stuff and is a smart guy, but he CAN'T TEACH. He should be working or doing research in his field, NOT teaching a 101 class. I honestly tried following and understanding his lectures each and every class, and no matter how hard I focused, I could barely understand a thing he was saying. As for recognizing student difficulties, he really doesn't seem to care how the students are doing. The only time he "recognizes" difficulties is when he grades a test: he sees you had difficultly with a problem, so he gives you a bad grade. The only reason I got a B in this class is for a few reasons: (1) the only place I learned ANYTHING about CSC-101 was through my "C Programming for Dummies" book, (2) he was forced to curve the class massively because about 85% of the class had D's or F's, so he was forced to adjust grades to fix that, and (3) I worked my butt off. If you need to take CSC-101 as a required class for your major, but see that O'Gorman is your only option, WAIT for another quarter to take this class. Do NOT take him. It's simply not worth it! CSC-101 is a really fun topic, but with that kind of teacher, the class becomes nothing more than a nightmare. Oh, and did I mention that he is condescending to you when you ask a question and makes you feel bad for not understanding? Yes, it's true. If you are unable to understand what he's "teaching" you (which was the case for 85% of the class), then he'll make you feel bad.

O'Gorman was great, I'm in my third year now so I had to come back and write this after all this shit I hear about him which is more people repeating what they heard from other people. I took him never having programmed any language before and in my first quarter of classes (when going to class was a very low priority). He was a tooon of help and really cool. If you actually ask questions and pay attention he is really cool, the couple times I went to his office hours he was extremely friendly and helped me install linux and gave me a bunch of programming books. The whole quarter i do think there was one time he kinda made a student look dumb for asking a questions but it was a pretty dumb question that had been repeated many times, and if you're that scared of that happening I guess take someone else?

fuck ogorman

Well, O' Gorman simply doesn't know how to teach. He is extremely brilliant at programming, but most everyone was lost in his lectures. He should not be teaching CSC 101. I really recommend not taking his 101 class. I learned everything about C from the internet and my friend down the hall. Avoid the frustration.

He knows about programming but know nothing about teaching. Avoid his class, because at least 55% of his class tends to get a D or lower. He simply doesnt know how to teach and isn't at all helpful during office hours.

Don't take this professor. I am not trashing O' Gorman simply because I got a bad grade. I worked hard and still got shafted and he neglects to help you. He makes you feel so low when he explains it to you, that its not even worth it to be humiliated by him when he tries to explain code. He also can't teach - only program. Take a different teacher!

Well O'Gorman must have sucked for everyone else, but I retook the class (had Seng before who I strongly reccomend) and it helped me become a super programmer. The thing was is that he expects kids to already know 1/2 the stuff hes talking about leaving 90% of the class in a cloud of dust. He relates terrible to kids also seeing as if hes like 70 years old. DO NOT take him unless you have a lot of programming expirience in C.

O'Gorman is a pretty bad professor. He knows his material, but can't teach it. The best advice would be to read the book. He teaches right out of the book, and many of the exams had vocab type multiple choice questions and other logic that was not covered or clarified in the class. The programs and labs were pretty easy, but don't expect a lot of understandable help or advice. When he helps you with a question, he tends to add in a lot of useless information that only confuses you more. Overall, O'Gorman should be one of your LAST choices. If you get him because of your rotation schedule, sorry, but read the book, and don't give up. Also try the Study session groups.

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Worst teacher I've ever had at Cal Poly! Tests are way too hard, he doesn't explain anything when you ask questions. Arrogant asshole too boot! Don't take this punk ass, especially first quarter of the year, that's when he is PMSing the worst.

do not take his csc 101 if u don't have any programming experience. i swear, this guy should stay away from teaching lower level classes. o'gorman knows his shit but just not a good teacher at all...

Dr. O'Gorman is nicknamed Ogerman, and will due reason. The average in our class was a 67% and he DID NOT curve. He expects you to figure the programs on your own... I'm an EE major taking a CPE 101 class, I havent even programmed christmas lights before this class. Maybe its different in later classes, for CPE students, but I high suggest taking a professor who understands the situation.

From what I have heard, Prof. O'Gorman has made huge strides in teaching 101, but he has no idea what he's doing in 102. You can almost always go to his office hours but there is no point. He is absolutely the least helpful person I have met in my life. Whenever I ask for help I just feel like an idiot because of him. He's not consistent at all which is probably his biggest problem. He sets a calender and never sticks with anything from it. Our quizzes are supposed to be given on certain days but you never know when it is actually coming. He might as well make them pop quizzes. His lectures are incrediblly boring and almost pointless. Occassionally a projects due date will be pushed back which seems good at first but he will do this two times in a row and then the 3rd he will want in at the original time. But you have been offset by the other to so by the time you finish the second to turn it in on time, you have no time to do the next. Basically, unorganized, unhelpful and extremely boring teacher.

Okay, for those of you who have never taken O'Gorman and are thinking about it, I would recommend you try for any other professor. Ogreman himself isn't that bad, but you'll be wasting your time on a lot of confusion and frustration if you take this guy. First, he doesn't try to simplify concepts down. Jeez, we KNOW you know it, but that doesn't mean that we do! If you read any cpe 101 students from the fall quarter, the only reason he got "better" was because he had to follow the lesson plan that Staley and Mammen had to follow as well. In 102, we had no idea what we were doing... and he got so off track with quizzes that it was impossible to know when our tests were, so it was difficult to study. To sum it up, take someone else. O'Gorman's not worth it. Trust me.

When I signed up for O'Gorman's class, I was a bit worried because of his low rating here on polyratings. After taking his class, however, I can say he's a great teacher, or at least not as terrible as most people make him out to be. Probably his biggest problem is he expects you to know your stuff. If your a EE major and your just taking him for your csc101 req. then you probably want a different teacher. He gets angry when people don't follow his directions or have trouble using unix in the labs, but he teaches his material very well and explains all the material very clearly. As long as you know a decent amount about computers and do the programming assingments, it's actually not a hard class. He's very helpful during office hours and tells a lot of interesting stories and jokes during lecture to keep you interested. I'd actually recommend him for classes above 101. He might be a little intense for just starting programming.

I don't think O'Gorman is as bad people are saying. His lecture style isn't very exciting, but he teaches a lot more during lectures than some other CSC teachers. He gives 1 lab and 1 project each week, and a lab quiz every other week. All of these are pretty easy if you pay attention during lecture and spend a few hours working. The final exam was insane though, nobody could finish and he didn't curve it. Also, when people ask him questions he usually responds that we should figure it out ourselves. That would be fine in a upper division class but here we're still freshman learning the basics and it's an extremely simple question that would take quite a while for us to figure out ourselves. He does have his flaws but still I don't think he's as horrible as the scores here show.

The man is smart, and his lectures can actually be informative because he actually goes through sample code. The only problem is that he goes through it as if we should be able to commit it to memory by just seeing it once. His projects weren't that hard, he gives one each week and were fairly simple since the switch from C to Java wasn't that hard for me. The only problem I had were his labs. Many of his labs which he claimed should only take around 3 hours to complete were around the same difficulty as the projects. Overall if you're pretty good at programming then this class won't be that bad, just don't expect any help from O'Gorman, he'll just look at you, as if his brain can't comprehend how someone could find this stuff hard. Or he'll criticize you. Although do get clarification on what the hell he wants from the labs/projects, the way he writes out the specifications confuses more than specifies. What needs to be seriously fixed though is that final, around one third of the stuff on it I had never seen before, we had never gone over it in class, students of other instructors had it even worse.

My first impression when I first saw him was wrong. O'Gorman is a good man. His midterms and quizes would be considered easy if you know programming well. His projects are confusing sometimes. But overall, I would take his class again.

O'Gorman kicks ass. Period. If you can't hang with him, you should probably be programming at CSU East Bay.

Examine all of the comments about O'Gorman carefully, and you'll see that the vast majority are angry freshmen, venting about their bad grade. I would highly suggest ignoring those comments and litstening to the older (and in this case, blatently more mature) students. O'Gorman can appear to be a jerk at times, yes. But that's because he's got kind of an odd sense of humor. He may joke about you, but don't take it to heart. That usually means he respects you. No, O'Gorman will not treat you like a little kid. His job is to teach you the fundamentals, and therefore, yes he must be hard on the students. He speaks of the industry, because students are absolutely expected to know and perform at industry standards by the time they graduate. I must enphasise this fact: O'GORMAN IS A HARD ASS BECAUSE HE WANTS TO HELP YOU. I took him CPE 101 and 102. In those two quarters, i was able to cover three times the information of students takeing the same course with a different teacher. this gave me a very stable foundation of basic computer theory that allowed me to branch off and learn several other computer languages. As for never helping with the students' problems, that statement is 100% incorrect. O'Gorman spens most of the day in his office, simply waiting for students to ask him questions. LEt me point out that Cal Poly only requires 4 hours a week from each professor. I've come in and asked questions clear until 7pm, and he's always there, and never made me feel rushed. In addition to all of this, O'Gorman also provides his ICQ account number in case some students have questions while he was at home. I've been able to talk to him as late as 2am (i shit you not). O'Gorman is by far the best teacher i've had. He cares more about his students than anyone gives him credit for. If you dont want to challenge yourself, and intend to simply slide through college on easy professors, then prepare to fail in real life. but if you want to learn and expand your abilities, and want to truely be successful in the long run, take O'Gorman, and stop bitching. He's doing it for you.

I've had several computer science professors not at cal poly and O'Gorman fails in comparison. While there is no doubt in my mind that he is a very smart guy who knows computer science extremely well, he is awful at teaching. A professor should not scoff at you for asking questions. At times when asked for clarification, he would tell us not to assume anything, and then later assign a project where everything about the design was implied. He assigned a project to be due on a holiday. Most of his projects and labs seemed unorganized and thrown together at the last minute. Many of the in-class labs were far harder than the actual projects. He would skip topics and say there was no time to cover them, and then go on long tangents about projects he was working on. Maybe he is better in operating systems where he is more used to teaching, but I would avoid him for any lower division class, unless you already know the material.

If you ever get the chance to take this professor...do yourself a favor and dont...that would be the worst mistake you can make especially if you dont know that much about computer programmin...the class typically became a discussion between a few students who knew their stuff and him...and even then the students sometimes left dissatisfied...he is not particulary clear in any kind of assignment or quiz...and office hours dont help...he just cant really convey any information...

O\'Gorman knows his stuff. Admittedly, he does not teach you every minute detail you may need (that\'s what the book and man pages are for), but he does give you an outline and directions of where to look for more details. I enjoyed the way he enriched the text with his extensive knowledge. His tests were hard, as was the class as a whole, but you learn the material.

At first I was afraid of taking this teacher from all the bad reviews I saw, but he wasn't bad at all. He was always at office hours and willing to help. . . sometimes he helped outside of office hours too. And he answers questions with questions sometimes if he thinks you should know the answer and is intended to stimulate thought. I thought he was a fair grader on tests but didn't necessarily liked how he graded the programming assignments. It's true that he actually expects you to do the readings but I guess that's what college is about. . . maybe the underclassmen weren't suitable students for him. I think I would've gotten a much better grade if I wasn't taking another eviiiiiil teacher. But that's another story.

All of the above evaluations are pretty much right on, but that's for CSC 101. I also took O'Gorman freshman year--he was pretty intimidating, and uh, did not come off as particularly charming. I suppose that's just 'cause he's not too happy to teach a bunch of freshman. But in 357, he's a lot nicer and actually tries to help you. His tests are fair, especially since he knows that some of us got screwed since we were taught Java in 101-103, not C (the language that is used in 357). Just don't slack on his programs (those are what killed my grade). He's a good teacher for 357, and he definitely knows his shit... but yeah, if it's 101, reconsider (if you haven't programmed before, otherwise 101 is a breeze).

I am overall a hard working student. I took O'Gorman before for 101 and I understood the amount of work required for his class. I thought CPE 357 wont be as bad but it is. His lectures really suck. It is basically an outline for all the things to be covered but he didn't really teach us. For labs, they supposed to be done within a lab period but all students work the night before (when he assigns it). Total about 30 labs (3 labs a week) and about 8 programs. His labs and programs are hard because he doesn't go over it. Two midterms and final. All of them are hard. His midterms are very tricky and to beat the average (which is half of the max amount of points you can get) you have to read the book. If you can, AVOID HIM. Whenever you ask questions during lectures, labs, or Office hours, he will somehow make you look student. Does not understand the students' need. He has the worst mentality and attitude. In conclusion, don't take O'Gorman because he can't teach, bad attitude, you will get a lot of work, his exams are tricky, no help during office hours, and most likely, you will get a F or/and extremely stressed. If you HAVE TO (As in you will die if you don't) then read and understand the book.

I find all these negative O'Gorman comments hilarious, personally. He's the hardest, smartest Computer Science professor I've had at Cal Poly so far, hands down. O'Gorman classes are known for their difficulty not only because there is a fair amount of work involved, but also because he doesn't explain things that well. Both of these are for the most part true, but I think this class really makes super programmers out of all of us. I had 357 on MWF. The breakdown: 30 labs (3 a week, he posted Monday's lab on Sunday morning, Wednesday's on Tuesday morning, and Friday's on Thursday morning. I'd start on the labs as soon as they're assigned, since he only provides 1 hour of lab time for lab demos and asking him questions on labs/programs), 7 projects (Each subsequent project is worth more than the previous one), 2 midterms (C review exam on week 3, and system calls exam on week 7), and a final exam. The labs lead to the projects and exams. Best things to study for exams are his labs and projects. For his Serious C exam, be familiar with all of K&R (except the Unix chapter), and for the final, study his second midterm. Reading the assigned book chapters (Rochkind) is very important for some labs and projects, and should be at least skimmed before exams. Overall, I enjoyed O'Gorman's 357 class. Yes, it's a lot of work, and yes, it's difficult, but someone has to prepare you for a serious programming career, and O'Gorman definitely fits the bill. I got sick and didn't study as much for the second midterm, so I ended up with a C+ instead of a B- or B, but I was still delighted to have him as a teacher because he pushed me to my limits. I'd definitely take him again if given the chance. Final comments: Learn a terminal text editor (vim is preferred, but O'Gorman is okay with emacs), read his website carefully during the first week so if he mentions something in class, you have all the more resources to look at, and get accustomed with gdb, makefiles, his .vimrc file if you're using vim, and valgrind. Good luck! It's a lot of work but it's definitely worth it. If you don't at least slightly enjoy this class, then you're probably in the wrong field.

hahaha - this is the most evil man i know, I hated him most of the quarter. don't let him intimidate you or you'll hate the class and don't let him trick you all to think he is teaching really well this quarter because there are a lot of good grades - many people are retaking the class. he is doing retardedly bad at teaching. great professor for upper division classes if you enjoy C and systems programming. his grader was a punk - test your own programs when you get them back, demand test cases. his grading is based on phases of the moon unless your programs are perfect - which is not impossible by any means on the projects. the labs are stupid easy if you know how to use a search engine - theres tons of documentation are there. use the book - every single lab is also in there fully documented. this teacher expects you to do the research and learning - almost as if he was teaching a college class. his tests are baaaaaaad. for(;;){fork();} :P

O'Gorman is really one of the WORST if not the worst professor I have taken at Poly. Honestly he seems to not care about teaching the students anything. The entire course if you take it through him will be teaching yourself the material. His lectures are pretty pointless, he goes through the man pages and prototypes but nothing else, nothing of real value. The course has a lab each period but almost all of them require substantially more time then allowed in a lab period, if you do not start the night before the lab/lecture you will not get it done. There where several labs in which more then 50% of the class did not get done. If you fail to demo but are in alb you will get 50% on that lab. The projects overall are very time consuming but are doable. Be prepared to put alot of time aside to complete these projects, if you do get them done the grading on them is fair, will get an 80%+ even with small problems so ensure to turn in a function version of all projects even if you can not get them completed, just ensure it is compiling! :) The tests where difficult and he will not give you any ideas of what will be on the exams so be prepared to study all the material. Overall the class average was a 70% with aprox 1/3 of the students in my quarter getting a D or F so be prepared to work your BUTT off or retake the class. NOT recommended to take this class with any other difficult classes and if all posible AVOID O'Gorman!!!!

*--From the s.&.s |-->Read the chapters he assigns a week before. I don't care if you've got your games to play, parties to go to, or porn to watch; you're here for advice, this is going to be the best advice anyone can give you. |-->Finish labs the day before they're due, or at least 'look' at the requirements/specifications and know what you're going to have to do. |-->Projects? Start on them as early as you can. The first couple of projects are doable last-minute (like most of us just love doing), but for later projects, that definitely won't cut it. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, expect to spend 2-3 hours coding and double or triple that trying to fix pissy little errors. |-->For projects, labs, he has NO MERCY for late work. Expect shit for your time if you're not going to finish by the due date, which is why you should start ahead of time. I lost complete credit on one project because it was late. STUPIDEST mistake ever. Projects, in total are 30% of the course grade. However shitty you do on tests, the projects and labs can still keep you up there. |-->Midterms? Read the fucken books. Don't skim through, saying to yourself, "Yeah, I got that, I got that." Actually read. For me, 3/4s of his first midterm focused on one topic: arrays and pointers. And the second midterm was mostly about file handling. What I mean by 'actually reading' is know how to do stuff that's laid out in the book, but also know tricks or shortcuts. In other words, it's not just about memorizing key concepts, it's about knowing exactly how things work and how to use them in a variety of ways. |-->Final? We're not there yet, but I'm studying my ass off, indefinitely. |-->And expect some assholes in the class to either have taken it already or have friends that took the class already. They'll have access to midterms and finals, which yours will be very similar to. It's useful (very) to have one of these asshole friends. Together, you can fuck up the curve. People who haven't taken this class before, expect a C or fail if you're just going to do average work and just average your way through the entirety of this class. It was meant for people who took it already to pass easy, with an A or B. Currently, there are 2 Bs in the class, everyone else is at a C or lower. |-->If you plan on taking this class, one last very useful word of advice is: Install Ubuntu or some Linux on your computer and get used to some of the commands before taking this class. That way, especially when Vogon tries to commit suicide and goes into a coma, you have some way of testing your shit. |--*Does he fail at teaching? He's not so bad. You just have to sort through all of the bullshit and try to stay awake (early class). It's useful to record his lectures or at least write down EVERYTHING he says. Yes, EVERYTHING. You'll thank yourself on the midterms. Don't ask for help if you don't know what you're doing. You'll just get a verbal bitchslap and end up trying to figure it out yourself anyways. Don't go into the class with thoughts that he's a douchebag or an asshole, it just hampers on your listening abilities. He's a teacher. He teaches. But more than his topic, he teaches you to work your own ass off, depend on yourself. Do I like him as a teacher? Nope. The thought of him pisses me off. I'm just saying, don't hate the guy because everyone else does, find where you stand by yourself. Good luck, and hope this helps.

THIS CLASS IS ****ING HARD!! I used to breeze through all of my major courses (even 101 with O\'Gorman) until I got to 357 with O\'Gorman. Be prepared to have no life for the quarter, and I wouldn\'t recommend taking this with too many units on your schedule.

\"This is your opportunity to help other students, not to rip on a professor because they failed you!\" Sorry if it sounds like I\'m ripping this guy because he failed me, but he fails 40% of his class. One lucky soldier will get an A-, a handful will get Bs, another handful Cs, and the rest of his students suck and get will get lucky to get a D. I\'m not a student who takes classes to get good grades, I\'m a student who tries to learn the most I can. That in turn usually means good grades. NOT for O\'Gorman. Just read all the comments below and above. Or look when people are registering how his class is wide open and the other teachers have more people wait-listed then O\'Gorman has in his class. \"it is hard because of the professor\\\'s inability to organize his lecture time\" that and his inability to teach, inability to organize office hours, and plain inability to organize his own time yet demands all of yours. He reuses mostly all of his projects and tests.(which is good for some who cheat or are retaking the class) His method of teaching involves one simple formula. LEARN BY DOING(and reading). Yet for some reason he doesn\'t want to help you learn, and doesn\'t want you to ask for help. Asking for help from anyone else is cheating, yet he won\'t do a thing to help you. Want to know what\'s going to be on the midterm or final? His answer the day before every test if you ask:\"Everything, I\'ve ever said\" The problem is professor, you don\'t even know what you said. And thats just a plain lie.

Can we please get this guy to retire?

Response to the previous response which was in response to the rant before that: I love you. Second, response to ogreman-supporter: ok yes, "learn by doing", teach yourself, look at manpages, blahblah, sure. Then whats the point of having lectures anyway? He seriously spent 25 minutes of lecture looking for the site we could use to look for more info. In that time, he could have easily answered the question we asked. The funny thing is, a friend in the section after told me he did the exact thing in his section as well. Please retire him and let nico or workman teach all the sections. I've never even taken nico and can assume he is better. Mammen wasn't too hot on helping students too much either but at least he knew how to explain the topics he had to get across.

Response to the previous response which was in response to the rant before that: I love you. Second, response to ogreman-supporter: ok yes, "learn by doing", teach yourself, look at manpages, blahblah, sure. Then whats the point of having lectures anyway? He seriously spent 25 minutes of lecture looking for the site we could use to look for more info. In that time, he could have easily answered the question we asked. The funny thing is, a friend in the section after told me he did the exact thing in his section as well. Please retire him and let nico or workman teach all the sections. I've never even taken nico and can assume he is better. Mammen wasn't too hot on helping students too much either but at least he knew how to explain the topics he had to get across.

O'Gorman is a fat ugly dork. One of the worst professors I've had at Cal Poly. I ended up with about 81% in the class and he gave me a B, which included my "half bump" extra credit (bumps from a high B- to a low B, etc) so I guess there was a little bit of a curve. Unfortunately, this means that over half the class failed. Anyways, it doesn't really matter how bad he is at this point because he's retired.

Many students won't like Dr. O'Gorman because he expects you to figure things out on your. I would say that you should've entered college expecting this. Also, learning to read documentation (man pages) is a skill you will carry for the rest of your career. I can agree his lectures aren't great and he's a bit picky about the labs. But in office hours, he's a nice guy who's willing to spend extra time helping you. One thing I had an issue with, though, is that even though the programs take so much of your time, your grade is based a lot on the final, which didn't have well thought out questions.

ogorman is a hard instuctor to take if you dont have much c experience. He knows the subject matter, but can't really teach it very well. Expects you to teach yourself basically. Office hours are so so. I learned most of the subject matter from the book. Readin the book in its entirety is the ONLY way to do well in the class. Do the labs before the day there are due. Start projects early. Do not expect much from o'gorman. Failed both midterms... scraped together a C in the class. Lots of points in the class. Thats about it. If you can, take another instructor. If not, sack up and just do it.

O'gorman isn't awful, he just doesn't understand his target audience at all. If this were a refresher course given to someone who had been programming C for a long time, but just hadn't done it in the Linux environment I feel that would be fine. However, he just goes through the entire class writing down function prototypes and then expects you to know how to use them in the labs. The labs, while useful, were far too difficult for the time allowed. I definitely recommend doing them as soon as they are assigned so you can spend the lab debugging, instead of trying to figure out what the heck he is trying to get you to do. He will deduct some points all over the place if you don't have exactly what he wants. The same goes for the projects, if you give him exactly what he wants you will get a good grade, but otherwise good luck. His specs are difficult to interpret and far too loose, but he grades only with what he had in mind unfortunately. Make sure to get a test executable that you can either look at in his office hours, or play with yourself (symlinks are your friend!) and compare it with your own. My advice: if don't absolutely have to take 357 this quarter and O'gorman is the only one teaching it, try to take it another quarter, but if you do have to take it now to stay on track, just make sure to read the book and do all of the labs/projects and you'll be fine.

Would recommend avoiding this prof, especially if you want to learn any of this. He knows a lot about the subject, but he can't teach it. Doesn't mention things like upcoming midterms. Labs cannot usually be finished in the lab time, need to start the night before, and since the material for the lab hasn't been covered in lecture you need to learn that on your own also. Projects were fair overall, but they won't stop coming. Non-stop work in this class. Lecture is all over the place, good luck taking notes. This class was enough to make me want to change majors.

He is a tough professor. Just know that if you have to take his class. You'll want to read the book, the lectures are somewhat empty, mostly function prototypes you'll need to read up on yourself. Some labs are too tough to finish in the allotted time, recommend starting them the night before. The projects aren't bad, some of them are interesting. However, don't wait until the last minute to work on them, and don't hesitate to ask questions. The midterms were pretty tough, they're relatively short, and it was impossible to tell what would be on the test. He knows a lot about the subject matter, just could convey it better.

O\'Gorman is a fantastic programmer, but a horrible professor. He does not understand what it means to teach, or how to write clear project requirements, nor does he know how to assign a workload appropriate for a 4 unit course. Taking 357 with this professor will have you spending half of your working hours on the class, and this is assuming a course load of 16 or more units. He is absurdly late with grades, sometimes taking over 3 weeks to get project grades out. He did not turn in final grades on time, and now everyone in his classes have \"RD\"s until he can re-file grades. CSC357 is a pre-req for many other classes in the major, and people often fail it. Being this late with grades is a major inconvenience for many students, and there is no reason why he should be any less able to grade his classes on time than any other professor. Bottom Line: Unless you CAN NOT avoid it, do not EVER take O\'Gorman for any class, especially 357.

Ok...O\'Gorman is not a very good professor. His lectures are mostly useless. All he does is ramble on about some random aspect of linux, and then shows us a function prototype or two and expects to know how to use them.... This class is a lot of work, and I would take it with anyone else over o\'gorman. however, if you have to take it with him, get the book. it is by rochkind i believe. read this book and take notes on it. the book is your only hope in this class. also, start your programs very early, because they take a lot of time. don\'t expect to do well in this class.... it should be noted that this class isn\'t hard because of the material, it is hard because of the professor\'s inability to organize his lecture time.

Reading all these comments about how the professor sucks because he doesn't teach really pisses me off. I see a lot of stupid complaints for Prof. Bellardo too. Everything said about how O'Gorman doesn't try to help you out is true, but that's how it's SUPPOSED TO BE. He's trying to teach you to figure things out on your own (i.e., using Linux man pages and the internet) to be able to do the labs/projects. For example, one little part of my current project needs to read the arguments from the command line. You can use a function from the standard library that can do this. Do I know what the hell it does? Hell no. Can I find out what it does, what errors it produces, and what it returns to me after calling it? Hell yes I can by using the man pages, examples posted in forums, and Google searches. This is the whole idea of the class in my opinion and it's what O'Gorman is trying to teach you. When you're out working in industry and you don't know something, you're not going to go to your boss and expect a 2 hour lecture on what a function does. You're going to get a bitch slap and get told to look it up on your own, just like O'Gorman does. This class is not necessarily excessively difficult to grasp, it just takes an incredible amount of time to (1) look up everything and become familiar with what you need for the lab/project/etc. then to (2) actually do it and test it. If it's a major course then plan on making this a top priority, even if it means slacking off it another course. If it's possible then try to take it with less units or easier classes. If you're not up for the challenge then don't take him. It's that simple. Overall look forward to a challenging class, but I really believe that after this course myself and any of you all will come out with the tools needed to be a pretty damn good programmer. If you're a CSC/SE or anything similar and you're complaining about the course load then shut the fuck up and quit bitching. This is your major and what you're going to do for the rest of your life. It should be a challenge that you're looking forward to conquering.

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This professor FAILs in preparing you to his own assignments. You will be facing them BLINDED. There is no enough information to complete his assignments. The class is missleading. No pedagogic methods are applied. You will learn a lot by HURTING YOUR GRADE unless you have some friend that have already taken the class or get lucky.

I got to admit that one of his examples saved my ass on a programming assignment. He was really knowledgable and helpful. However, he was very bad depicting how complex the assignments were and how we had to teach ourselves. He is retired. But I wanna thank that geek even when made my life miserable. I'll convert that in $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ then I might be more thankful.

At first I was a little disappointed when I learned that a last minute change had switched Dr. O'Gorman in to teach OS instead of Dr. Nico; but regardless, the class turned out great. O'Gorman definitely taught the class well, spent time answering all of my questions, and was very helpful during office hours. His teaching style may not be as good for CPE-101 (as evidenced by the ratings here) but he certainly did a fine job teaching Operating Systems.

Want a professor who teaches you the concepts of operating systems clearly? Don't take this professor; take Haungs, Nico, or Bellardo first. However, in O'Gorman's class, you'll learn about the things that he has worked on in the 60s, 70s, and 80s that are tangentially related to the subject matter of that lecture. You'll also have very difficult programming assignments that you won't get much help with. The midterms weren't too terrible, but the require that you studied the textbook well, which is very wordy for a computer science textbook.

Went into this class with a 3.97 cumulative GPA. Dropped because I was going to fail. Normally I somewhat ignore polyratings because people who don't study like to complain.. Heed my warning, avoid at all costs unless you already know tons about OS. Literally one of the worst teachers I've ever had, doesn't explain concepts in class and tests are on material not in the book so you can't even teach it to yourself (I read 3 god damn chapters about minix for nothing). Projects are borderline impossible without a working knowledge of x86 assembly, and he's completely useless in office hours. 95% of the time, lectures digress into him talking about old times in computing when "we had to feed all our information in on teletype machines and you had to pay for CPU time!!". Waste time and effort, never take O'Gorman. For anything. Ever.

STAY AWAY Very simple just STAY AWAY. Granted, he knows his stuff, but he will be the only one in the room knowing anything. He can not convey information to another human being for some reason. His lectures are dry and his projects are absurdly difficult and he does not give ample time to complete them, unless you already know what you are doing. You might as well read the source code in the book, because thats what he told me to do when I limped into office hours. Nice guy, awful teacher. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

only this guy would fail Chuck Norris

he sure does like his women, wet!!