Don’t take the course with Alan Hu. He doesn’t care about your mental health at all... the midterm was hard, the final was long and unfair. You know Alan Hu made the questions when the reading was over a page long. GG guys.

Take this course in summer with a better prof.

Incredibly dry course but also extremely difficult. Patrice and Alan both being as cryptic as possible and making it impossible to get TA help. Assignments are so long, easily 15+ hours each with incredibly complex questions, page long proofs, and very strict marking. Also a brutal midterm with an average below 40. It's a good course for interviews but if you don't need to take it avoid it like the plague.

Start assignments early, take in a light semester with another course that gives you the will to live.