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.

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.

This class is more of an advanced stats class. The math that the professor went through in the lecture is super hard. Python and R are the preferred programming tools. However, I do see some students using C++ and still be able to get full credits on all the assignment. Basically, as long as you understand the math behind the " model" or the "algorithm", the programming assignment is a breeze. TAs and the professor are super helpful if you are willing to talk to them after the class. Though the office hour and the discussion may not be as "formal" as other upper div CS courses (mentioned in other reviews), TAs are always in the Zarlab (in the second floor of MS building) and almost always available. The basic idea is to really let us learn as may advance topics as possible. it's okay if you are not fully understanding the material. TAs don't quite get the ideas sometime. THE GRADING IS SUPER GOOD. Strongly recommended if you are interested in bioinformatic.

Took this class during COVID; the prof and TAs had some weird communication issues where the professor would say something about a due date and the TAs would lag behind a little on getting the news out to all students. They did their best though! Whenever more than a few people asked for an extension, it was given globally to the whole class. Eleazar kept calling these “revolts” jokingly, but they totally were. I don’t think we had a project due until week 6.

All things considered, it was a good class. You learn about genome assembly, resequencing, RNA sequencing in the context of computation. The Stepik homeworks were way more CS heavy than the projects, honestly. They offered a ton of extra credit and lots of cool guest speakers if you’re into research. The projects aren’t that hard and the exams are just there to see if you’re paying attention. If you’re into research/bioinformatics, I’d suggest this as an introductory course. Not too difficult and pretty cool. This is coming from someone who learned Python concurrently with taking this course!

No doubt one of the most enjoyable classes I've taken at UCLA. The TA's are kind and understanding, and the lectures the professor and guest speakers gave are truly inspiring. Overall, I would highly recommend taking this class, regardless of whether you're interested in genetics/biology or not.

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.

Took this class for my Bioinformatics minor. This class is taught by two professors together: Prof. Eran Halperin and Prof Eskin. Honestly, this class is a mess.
1. Lecture. In the first few weeks, the two professors were teaching together during the lectures. As a result, the lectures became very unorganized and confusing, because they often got confused about which was the next slide or what concept to go through next. They also attempted to interact with students by asking questions. Obviously this didn't work out, because it would take at least 5 mins for someone to break the awkward silence and answer the question, then they'd spend another 10 mins going back and forth with the question if the answer was not what they wanted. I went to the lectures for the first 3 weeks, then decided they were purely a waste of time and stopped watching them.
2. Homework. There were no exams, so your grade solely depends on your hw. There were 7 hw in total, each of them contained 2-3 questions. 3 of the 7 hw contain coding questions, and you'll need to know Python or R to do them. The homework are not hard, each should take around 1-2 days. Be careful with the multiple-choice questions though, they don't give partial credits on these questions, and you could easily lose 30-50% of points if you got them wrong. I'll recommend checking your answers with a study buddy before submitting.
3. Discussion. The TAs went through the concepts and algorithms required for hw during their discussions. After the third week I stopped going to the lectures and used discussions only to do my hw, and I got full scores on most of them. Shoutout to Jingyuan for being an amazing TA. She explained everything clearly, and gave a lot of helpful advice during her OH.
Overall I don't recommend this class. The workload was not high, but I felt I learned nothing. The lectures were too disorganized to learn anything useful.

THIS IS NOT A COMPUTER SCIENCE CLASS. It's nearly all statistics. This class is terrible and should be avoided. Eskin is an awful professor; he does tell you exactly what you need to know for tests, but he clearly doesn't care about his job and doesn't care if students learn anything or enjoy the class at all. Multiple times he would say in lecture "why am I even here teaching? You guys are gonna forget this all in a few weeks anyway."
Also, we were expected to know Python or R coming into this class. The TA (Michael, the worst TA I've ever had by far) told us in the week 1 discussion that if we didn't know those languages, start teaching ourselves. The homeworks (we had four programming assignments) are easy if you know Python/R, and extremely difficult if you aren't familiar with those languages. Besides those homework assignments, WE NEVER TOUCHED PROGRAMS IN THIS CLASS (and no, they don't talk about Python/R in lecture at all). 95% of the class is statistics and math, which was not what I was expecting (or prepared for).
The syllabus is straight up ignored. The TA consistently showed up 15 minutes late to discussion, and sometimes didn't show at all and forgot to send us a cancellation email. I didn't even know where the office hours were until maybe week 4, just because they never talked about it and didn't put the location on the syllabus.
tl;dr: This class is a pretty easy A but you will not learn anything (unless you're super interested in extremely difficult statistics and can keep up with the professor). There is very little CS involved, and Eskin and the TA don't care about the students at all.