The course is an introduction to embedded systems and how to program them. It starts by teaching very low level register programming, and gradually works it way up to using C++. It is very useful for understanding how microprocessors work, and is fairly fun. Most of the work is from the labs with a few homeworks. The exams are very similar to homeworks and aren't too difficult. One point of note is that, yes, this course emphasizes reading technical documentation a lot. Tons of information about how to do things are listed in the documentation, and it may be helpful to spend some time familiarizing yourself with it.

Rick, as people call him, is a lecturer and not a professor. He runs ECE270 and ECE362 mostly by himself, and is thus very busy. If he comes off as rude or uninterested, its because he has so much to do. One thing I recommend you do is to follow his requests when it comes to email/contact. If you follow the instructions, he is often very friendly and helpful.

Familiarize yourself with the documentation of the microprocessor and CPU architecture. You will probably find yourself referring to it nearly every lab.