It was fun but consuming

Parts are interesting but not super useful for software engineering

Dave is great

Great pacing, tests were very hard to prepare for but the content was interesting and the projects were applicable to the coursework and didn’t try to ***** you over.

RISC-V assembly ISA, CPU pipelining, memory and caching. Essentially programming at the processor level.

Always got through content, was accommodating to students and proactively went around to answer worksheet questions.

This class genuinely sucks. It is useless to most people in CS who aren't gonna be working in hardware. It scares many who are away from it. The assignments are extreme with weekly quizzes on a stupidly unclear textbook and intense worksheets and assignments. Yet unfortunately this class is essential to the science part of computer science.

The class starts off with a review of binary/hex/decimal logic and conversions. You then learn how C is compiled by the computer into assembly language instructions and how to work with assembly yourself. You then learn how it is assembled into binary machine code and how to do that yourself. The second half of the class is learning how the processor works and how specific instructions trigger the processor. I can't speak too much on the second half, I had to drop this class or else I wouldn't meet my scholarship GPA requirement.

Qi Han is a really nice professor who genuinely cares about her students. She talks a little fast sometimes, but explains the material thoroughly to someone who asks until they understand it best. She is passionate about the class and takes feedback seriously.

Be prepared for an assignment frenzy with this class, even if you're only taking 12 or 14 credits.