Spring 2027

Core Topics in Computing

This graduate course covers topics selected from advanced areas of computing.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Yuhang Zhao3.7/5Aws Albarghouthi3.7/5Akarsh Prabhakara3.6/5 +2 more

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Manolis Vlatakis

Homework assignments were moderately challenging with thought-provoking problems, contributing to a rigorous but rewarding overall experience.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
COMPSCI 839

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 5.00/5 from 1 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.

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.67/5 from 12 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.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2020: 3.89 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.86 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.00/5 from 2 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.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.97 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=13 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

AKARSH PRABHAKARA is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

AWS ALBARGHOUTHI is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

EARLENCE FERNANDES is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ETHAN CECCHETTI is recorded teaching in Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

FRED SALA is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MANOLIS VLATAKIS is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Fall 2025. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LEC 003Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LEC 004Classroom Instruction0 / 420
LEC 005Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LEC 006Classroom Instruction0 / 300

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Fred Sala

Students found Fred Sala's teaching style engaging and intuitive, making the course material accessible and rewarding to learn.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.77 GPA, 88.6% A/AB (n=114 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.94 GPA, 98.3% A/AB (n=179 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=109 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Manolis Vlatakis

Homework assignments were moderately challenging with thought-provoking problems, contributing to a rigorous but rewarding overall experience.

Past student reviews · Manolis Vlatakis

Manolis Vlatakis was approachable and supportive, with detailed lecture slides and a well-balanced pace that made the class manageable.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

6 earlier forecasts · 0.07 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 839 · Spring 2027

Core Topics in Computing

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI 839 · Spring 2027

Language-Based Security

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI 839 · Spring 2027

AI Agents

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI 839 · Spring 2027

Interactive Wearable Systems

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI 839 · Spring 2027

Wireless Sensing Systems

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "credits_min": 3,
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    "title": "Language-Based Security",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024924.59",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "AI Agents",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024924.64",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Interactive Wearable Systems",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
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  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "term_id": "1274",
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    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Wireless Sensing Systems",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "4cf14f0eb27a2c8dfb6bb6c3e524bee61498964b71e765d50972a0879816bd61",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}