Professor
Eleazar Eskin
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - First, even though STATS 100A is a prereq for this class, it isn't too stats heavy, so if you want to take this without having taken STATS 100A, talk to the TAs or the prof and they'll probably let you in. This class is an interesting application of algorithms in biology, and largely was divided into the following: 1. Sequence Alignment to the Genome (Leetcode string problems, but on large strings) 2. Assembly (graph traversal problems/ path finding problems) 3. RNA Sequencing (more string problems, dynamic programming) 4. Hidden Markov Models I found the material to be pretty interesting, and since I took it along with CS180, there was some overlap between the classes as well. Eskin himself is a super smart guy, but isn't the best lecturer. He often went into detail on advanced topics that weren't important, and didn't have slides for RNA Sequencing even though it wasn't in the textbook. However, the TAs for the course were super helpful and reviewed the material which was super helpful. The class involved reading small research papers, programming homework problems from the textbook, programming projects, a midterm, and a final. Of those, the homework problems and projects were the most time consuming. The quarter I took 122 was an experimental quarter: Eskin wants to make the class more difficult since (in his words) "people are doing too well in it". However, for the first 3 projects, the starter code provided by the TAs was good enough for full credit, which was a bit of a joke. Expect this to change in future quarters. One of these projects, sequence alignment on a 100 million length genome was so hard and stressful that they had to make it extra credit. Also, this was the first time they ever had RNA Sequencing projects, so there were some teething troubles with it, but this should get easy in future quarters. On all projects, the TAs made it seem like they were easier than they actually were (assuming you did it diligently). It helps to start early on the projects and ask the TAs for help. The exams were fair and easy. They gave out a practice exam which we had to solve and turn in, and the real exams were similar to the practice ones, which was really helpful. The final was non-cumulative as well. If you're a CS major, you may want to do a little review of biology before you take this class. They jumped straight into the material, and as a result, I was lost for the first couple of weeks. Also, this is a great class if you're interested in bioinformatics research. Talk to him in office hours or after class and if you show some interest, he'll probably take you in. Overall, it's a pretty chill class apart from 2 of the projects. I'd recommend taking it. The grading is pretty good, too.
Spring 2019 - First, even though STATS 100A is a prereq for this class, it isn't too stats heavy, so if you want to take this without having taken STATS 100A, talk to the TAs or the prof and they'll probably let you in. This class is an interesting application of algorithms in biology, and largely was divided into the following: 1. Sequence Alignment to the Genome (Leetcode string problems, but on large strings) 2. Assembly (graph traversal problems/ path finding problems) 3. RNA Sequencing (more string problems, dynamic programming) 4. Hidden Markov Models I found the material to be pretty interesting, and since I took it along with CS180, there was some overlap between the classes as well. Eskin himself is a super smart guy, but isn't the best lecturer. He often went into detail on advanced topics that weren't important, and didn't have slides for RNA Sequencing even though it wasn't in the textbook. However, the TAs for the course were super helpful and reviewed the material which was super helpful. The class involved reading small research papers, programming homework problems from the textbook, programming projects, a midterm, and a final. Of those, the homework problems and projects were the most time consuming. The quarter I took 122 was an experimental quarter: Eskin wants to make the class more difficult since (in his words) "people are doing too well in it". However, for the first 3 projects, the starter code provided by the TAs was good enough for full credit, which was a bit of a joke. Expect this to change in future quarters. One of these projects, sequence alignment on a 100 million length genome was so hard and stressful that they had to make it extra credit. Also, this was the first time they ever had RNA Sequencing projects, so there were some teething troubles with it, but this should get easy in future quarters. On all projects, the TAs made it seem like they were easier than they actually were (assuming you did it diligently). It helps to start early on the projects and ask the TAs for help. The exams were fair and easy. They gave out a practice exam which we had to solve and turn in, and the real exams were similar to the practice ones, which was really helpful. The final was non-cumulative as well. If you're a CS major, you may want to do a little review of biology before you take this class. They jumped straight into the material, and as a result, I was lost for the first couple of weeks. Also, this is a great class if you're interested in bioinformatics research. Talk to him in office hours or after class and if you show some interest, he'll probably take you in. Overall, it's a pretty chill class apart from 2 of the projects. I'd recommend taking it. The grading is pretty good, too.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - This class is as easy or difficult as you would like it to be. Although most people who took CS32 and did reasonably OK would get a good grade in this class, I would suggest taking it only if you are interested in exploring bioinformatics and not just for a good grade.
Spring 2020 - This class is as easy or difficult as you would like it to be. Although most people who took CS32 and did reasonably OK would get a good grade in this class, I would suggest taking it only if you are interested in exploring bioinformatics and not just for a good grade.
Most Helpful Review
CS CM124 Winter 2013 Prof is a nice guy... really relaxed and if you need help just go to him or the TA. The class isn't too demanding, but if you want to work more on the final project you can always make it more challenging for yourself. HW/MT/Final are just there to show you kinda whats going on.. the TA helps you through all of them during discussions. And by helps you through them i mean walks you through the problems, and solutions. Lectures/Discussions are all filmed and posted, which is nice. Final Project: For this quarter, he gave us a list of projects to pick from, and corresponding difficulty levels. If you dont have much time or dont really feel like you know whats going on, just pick an easy one... and if you get the hang of it you can add more to the project to challenge yourself. The project is the majority of the grade, i believe. For future classes he said he might mix it up, but probably similar stuff (pick your own language to code in, etc). There is a presentation for the project at the end of the quarter. 10 min of explain what you did. Not coding details.. just the big picture and your results like accuracy and run time. Kinda strange.. but you vote on your classmates via text. Not sure if this actually affects the grade, but you get participation for doing it. Interesting peak into a different side of CS.. i'd recommend the class. Not hard, good prof, not too stressful... and you learn along the way.
CS CM124 Winter 2013 Prof is a nice guy... really relaxed and if you need help just go to him or the TA. The class isn't too demanding, but if you want to work more on the final project you can always make it more challenging for yourself. HW/MT/Final are just there to show you kinda whats going on.. the TA helps you through all of them during discussions. And by helps you through them i mean walks you through the problems, and solutions. Lectures/Discussions are all filmed and posted, which is nice. Final Project: For this quarter, he gave us a list of projects to pick from, and corresponding difficulty levels. If you dont have much time or dont really feel like you know whats going on, just pick an easy one... and if you get the hang of it you can add more to the project to challenge yourself. The project is the majority of the grade, i believe. For future classes he said he might mix it up, but probably similar stuff (pick your own language to code in, etc). There is a presentation for the project at the end of the quarter. 10 min of explain what you did. Not coding details.. just the big picture and your results like accuracy and run time. Kinda strange.. but you vote on your classmates via text. Not sure if this actually affects the grade, but you get participation for doing it. Interesting peak into a different side of CS.. i'd recommend the class. Not hard, good prof, not too stressful... and you learn along the way.
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