Fall 2026

Learning a Programming Language

COMPSCI 368 teaches a specific programming language at beginner, intermediate, or advanced levels.

offering recorded1 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Louis Oliphant3.8/5

Summary

1 / 4

Historical reviews of Luke Swanson, Marc Renault, Peyman Morteza: Reviewers describe the workload as heavy for a one-credit course, with projects taking considerable time and requiring self-study. Others note that assignments are clear, related to lectures, and the class is clear-cut with no exams.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades

No recorded grade history.

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

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COMPSCI 368

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
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Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.83/5 from 42 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Karen Miller describe poor content knowledge and ineffective teaching for a C++ course aimed at Java programmers. Reviewers found her explanations uncertain, though one noted the class could still help brush up on C++ skills.

ANDREW KUEMMEL is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Spring 2018, Fall 2022, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

BECK HASTI is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KAREN S. MILLER is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LUKE SWANSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARC RENAULT is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL DOESCHER is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

OKAN AKALIN is recorded teaching in Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PEYMAN MORTEZA is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction37 / 600

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Andrew Kuemmel, Marc Renault, Michael Doescher: Students generally recommend COMPSCI 368 for learning C++, citing helpful online notes from Andrew Kuemmel and clear, funny lectures from Marc Renault. Reviewers describe the course as easy and highly recommended for those seeking to learn C++.

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Luke Swanson, Marc Renault, Peyman Morteza: Reviewers describe the workload as heavy for a one-credit course, with projects taking considerable time and requiring self-study. Others note that assignments are clear, related to lectures, and the class is clear-cut with no exams.

Historical reviews of Andrew Kuemmel, Beck Hasti, Luke Swanson, Marc Renault: Students appreciate professors who provide online lecture notes, clear assignment writeups, and accessible office hours. Conversely, one reviewer notes a professor can be spacey, while others find the content poorly designed for the credit value.

Topics

  • Specific programming language instruction

Skills

  • Proficiency in a specific programming language at beginner, intermediate, or advanced level

Grades

Instructor

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More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 368 · Fall 2026

Learning a Programming Language

Recorded 2026-09-07
COMPSCI 368 · Fall 2026

Python for Java Programmers

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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]
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Student reviews

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
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  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
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  "output_id": "2a85828730258376ff2c2f61d42926bc58168bf591085d38e0249eba74f4c86c",
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}