Great class with a really great teacher. Lecture itself isn't mandatory since it's recorded but you will still need to understand the concepts to do well on the assignments. Final grade is made up of weekly checkpoints and two cumulative assessments, which you can use your own study resources on. Brett always takes the time to answer questions and really works hard to help students understand the material.

Don't take this class without any coding experience. Try doing something like CodingBat or Practice-It outside of class to gain more experience with Java. Go to office hours.

Brett is an awesome professor. His RMP is very accurate. He is passionate about the class and his lecturing style is very clear and effective, with the weekly checkpoints he does really helping you feel that you are learning something and getting something out of the class. His TAs are also incredibly helpful.