Lu is clearly really smart. He knows his stuff, but he really misses the learning process in some steps. He's poorly organized, teaches straight from the book's lecture slides, and is COMPLETELY incapable of answering questions. Additionally, he doesn't know what we do or don't know – all great teachers should know what their students know and don't know. We had our first midterm on chapters 1-3 in the middle of week 7. We had learned chapters 1-3 WEEKS 1-3. The projects weren't bad at all, but I liked my partner and we started early on stuff. The material is SO fascinating, but the infrastructure and follow through was just NOT here for this class. Lu definitely knows his stuff, but he's a poor teacher at best.

Lu lectures off powerpoint slides the entire time besides a few minutes when he goes over examples on the board. If you prefer slides then he's the prof to take. However, if you're more interactive and like it when the prof lectures with the blackboard, don't take him. He goes pretty quickly through his slides and much too quickly to actually take good notes. Plus, when he actually does write things out on the board, his diagrams are hard to understand mostly because they are too messy.
Anyway, only half the class attends lecture and a lot of the ones who do attend fall asleep. I went to almost all of his lectures, yet I usually come out of class thinking that I didn't learn very much. The homework is pretty tedious and my TA was pretty horrible so I didn't really enjoy it. However, the programming projects were not that bad and you get a partner to lighten the work load. It's definitely one of the easier CS classes -- I just wish Lu didn't lecture off powerpoints so that I don't have to go home and read the book every time I leave lecture.

I took this during COVID-19, so everything is online. Prof. Lu always posted lecture videos and notes on CCLE very quickly (like right after lectures), and no attendance is needed. We have 8 homework assignments for 20% of our grade (drop one lowest, so 7 in total), and the assignments are usually straight forward and related to what is going to be tested on the exam (so do it carefully). TAs usually goes over 1 or 2 example questions during discussion for us to do the homework.
Projects are done individually (instead of in group like pre-COVID), but they are modified to be easier for one person to do it. Prof offers extra credits for the projects, and it should count up to 3% in your final grade if you do it all. The first project is easy and the second one takes time. TAs will ask you to demo the projects to them in order to give you points, and all the points are given solely based on your demo, so go over the demo requirement carefully beforehand. (Also, the TAs are usually really nice, and they try their best to give you points)
Tests are kinda hard but doable because the class average is usually not very high (like 75-80). You have 2.5 hours to do it and it's open book open notes. (Small hint: check out his older exams to get a sense of how he made up questions and you should do well on the exams)
Overall, not a bad experience and average CS course. Workload is slightly lighter than CS111 (since only 2 projects). Good luck!

This class was definitely tough, especially being virtual. He did 4 quizzes instead of a midterm and a final -- except the quizzes were as hard and long as a midterm/final exam in my opinion, so it felt harder than it would have been in person. Also, being virtual we did the projects solo instead of with partners. The second project was terrible

Actually I kind of like this class, and the lectures make me pretty interested in networking. The workload is definitely doable. There are only 2 projects in the entire quarter so you have plenty of time to think it through and do a thorough testing. Even is some test cases fail in the demo, partial credits will be generously rewarded. There are 4 quizzes in total, so be prepared for constantly studying for tests. If the professor did not curve the grade down.. that would be even better.

I think I would recommend this class because it was pretty manageable, except for the second project, which I would compare to a rough cs111 project. For the online format, he has 4 take home 2 hour timed quizzes instead of midterm+final. There are weekly homeworks, which don't take very long, and 2 projects. The first one is fine but the second one was really rough so start early. The projects are graded based off demos so you don't really have to worry about edge cases, which is nice and straightforward.

I'll recommend Professor Lu for CS118. He and his TAs are super nice and helpful. The past quarter has been a difficult time and he tried his best to listen to the needs of the students. (He let us poll on things like quiz length, optional final, curve of quiz scores, extra credit of project 2, etc) His lectures are not the most inspiring ones, but he did explain things clearly and cover all the necessary details. The projects are managable. Project 1 is easy, project 2 is much harder but he gave us almost 5 weeks for that. Overall, I recommend taking Lu's CS118.

The course itself is not easy for me, but professor Lu gives some examples and tries to explain everything clear and vivid. Course materials are very clear, professor Lu and TAs are super nice and helpful, professor even provides extra office hours before the quizzes.
Overall, I learned a lot from this course and I think it is a good course. I think the only problem is 8 am is too early for me lol.

His lectures are not the most inspiring as its it's just reading from slides and at 8 AM but he's a really smart guy and fairly nice. There are 2 projects in the class, project 1 is decently easy. Project 2 is a lot more in depth but he gives you almost 5 weeks to do it, so it's extremely doable within that time frame. The tests are not too hard and he curves pretty decently in the end. Take him if you have the chance