This was definitely a step up in difficulty from CS161 and the projects were fairly complex, especially the early ones that are just trying to see if you have a handle on OOP and can deal with lots of nitpicky instructions (I think this is half the battle on these assignments, and actually pretty reflective of real-world projects. There are a couple of group assignments, similar to CS 161, and I didn't find them to be a good use of time in CS 161, so I skipped them entirely in this course and as a result, spent much less time those weeks. I still got an A. I did participate in the final discussion, but watch out for this one, because they opened it up randomly and we actually had a previously-unmentioned "due date" for making our first post in the discussion, and they specifically docked points if you tried to come in at the end.

Submitted Wed Mar 26 2025

There are a lot of students in this program who have prior experience with CS topics and some who already work in tech! So when people say a course is super easy, just keep in mind that you have no idea where they're coming from. The material in this course isn't too complicated, but frankly I don't think it was taught well. What's terrible is that as I take more classes at OSU, the better CS 161/162 look. Many of the topics are taught oddly, where the concepts are almost explained fully but there always seems to be a tiny bit of information missing. (Sometimes this is because there are related concepts they didn't explicitly teach and expect you to just know, sometimes it's because the examples they give are brief and not very helpful, sometimes it's because they don't tell you how you would actually apply what you're learning.) The extra resources they give you reference built-in methods and techniques you're not allowed to use in the class, which is frustrating. Like many other classes in this program, it requires you to find your own resources if the modules aren't enough. I really wish they would provide longer and more complex examples that were not part of the module. In 161 there were some recorded zoom sessions with professor Hedaoo, which I found very helpful. Professor Baker made some good videos, but most of the time they didn't go beyond the examples already provided. The professors and TAs are fairly responsive on Ed Discussion, though there were a number of questions that were never answered, and the student had to make another post asking again. I do think I learned a fair amount, and the assignments were a good way to practice what you had just learned.

Submitted Wed Jul 31 2024

This course is more challenging than 162 but is still pretty easy. I thought the only difficult project was the portfolio project and that is just because it is longer than all the previous assignments. I would recommend being very comfortable with classes.

Submitted Mon Jun 17 2024

Start assignments early and be solid on your object oriented programming fundamentals. Utilize unit testing and write your own tests to verify that your program logic is correct and passes the assignment requirements listed in the rubric.

Submitted Fri Apr 05 2024

I paired this with 271 and this was definitely the easier course. It also allows you to work ahead. I stayed 2 weeks ahead through most of the course, so if I had a challenging week in 271 I could focus on that and not think about 162. The material in this course is pretty easy if you are familiar with Python and OOP.

Submitted Wed Mar 20 2024

I would come in being comfortable with OOP and recursion. Also take advantage of Samarendra's Learning Sessions. They are extremely helpful to understanding the content. Also, be prepared to review concepts from 161 as 162 builds on them.

Submitted Tue Dec 12 2023

Should be merged with 161 to make room for a real class.

Submitted Thu Jun 22 2023

Definitely more challenging than CS161 but in a fun way. If you're taking CS271 with this class, you'll definitely appreciate this class since you won't have to worry about managing the stack, registers, etc.

Submitted Wed Apr 05 2023

Could have stood to be more rigorous.

Submitted Mon Mar 27 2023

I ran through Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes before starting the program and it covered more than this class did. The final project for this class was really frustrating though. They had us make a Chess replica, but due to having such a sparse and vague ReadMe, they wound up telling us the tests would only use moves that followed the rules. In other words, we did not have to test for users trying to break the rules. It made the project trivial, but also useless in terms of putting on GitHub later on.

Submitted Mon Mar 27 2023