The time has come* to reflect on my courses from this term, express my opinion on them, and post the reviews in public so that when some poor fool trying to decide on which course to take puts “CMPT 275 with Janice Regan” into Google, they will know exactly which circle of hell they are damning themselves to.
CMPT 300 with Richard Vaughan:
I was expecting this course to be a dull, hard grind but it has really surprised me by being being relevant and genuinely interesting. It’s courses like CMPT 300 that remind me why I’m in computing science in the first place. I’d probably rate this as the best CMPT course I’ve taken so far at SFU. The only minor issue is the fact that there is an open mailing list. For those who don’t know, an open mailing list allows any clueless idiot taking the course to send me (and everyone else) email spam in the form of whiny complaints and stupid questions.
PHIL 203 with Kirstie Laird:
There are maybe 25 people registered in this class as far as I can tell. An average of 15 show up to class every day. The material could be more interesting but I’m pretty sure we’re getting to the good stuff soon. The class is at its best when we get into discussions about various philosophical issues. If nobody questions anything, the lectures have a tendency to drag on - but that’s all right. Everyone needs to sleep sometime. The course gets a thumbs up overall for having a decent professor, mostly good content, and a tutorial-like atmosphere.
CMPT 275 with Janice Regan:
This course is everything I hate about software engineering. I look upon it with such contempt and loathing as I have never felt for any academic subject in my life. Just thinking about it fills me with the urge to destroy something. Perhaps I should explain myself here. The course is not really about “software engineering”. It’s actually more of a job training course about the red tape and BS that goes into presenting software design to “clients”. This course is so bad that while working on it in the halls, professors and grad students often walk by and comment on the course’s high level of Suck. You know a course is really top quality when the students and the faculty detest it. Regan, the prof, on the other hand, actually seems to like the material. This, combined with the fact that the material is horrible in the first place, probably contributes to the fact that the class is now down to roughly 10-15% attendance from the start of the semester. I’m happy to say that I’ve decided to join the majority and start skipping it. I would honestly rather bang my head against a wall for 50 minutes than sit through another 275 lecture.
*I’ve decided that “The time has come” is a pretty solid way to begin a statement. It simply exudes importance. It’s the kind of phrase that could be used by a communist revolutionary or an authoritarian dictator in a rousing speech. Besides, the Walrus says it in Alice in Wonderland.