Advanced Seminar in Computer Science is a seminar on recent research on various aspects of computer science.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026← Computer Sciences (COMPSCI)
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52 courses
Ranked courses have at least 100 recorded letter grades.
Lead CS clubs and workshops for K-12 students in Madison to teach computational thinking and programming.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026#3 ·BIOCHEM/BME/BMI/CBE/COMPSCI/GENETICS 915
Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine
1 creditsSeminar on computation and informatics in biology and medicine.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026This graduate course covers topics selected from advanced areas of computing.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Manolis Vlatakis
Homework assignments were moderately challenging with thought-provoking problems, contributing to a rigorous but rewarding overall experience.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026#5 ·COMPSCI 739
Distributed Systems
3 creditsThis course explores issues in designing and implementing large-scale distributed systems, covering topics such as fault tolerance, scalability, replication, consensus, and reliability.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Michael Swift
Workload was significantly higher than other graduate courses, and the grading was described as very meticulous.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction covering user-centered design, interface prototyping, usability evaluation, and group project applications.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jacob Thebault-Spieker
The course had no coding requirement; most weeks involved group projects taking a few hours, though some weeks required more time. Students advised starting early.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026COMPUTER SCIENCES CAPSTONE involves building a software product from start to finish with a corporate client, using agile techniques like Design Thinking and Scrum, while developing, testing, and documenting the project.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Leah Ujda
Weekly meetings and project progress were compounded by a significant amount of additional busywork, increasing the overall time commitment.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2024–Spring 2026Advanced Computer Architecture II covers parallel algorithms, vectorizing compilers, interconnection networks, MIMD machines, synchronization, data coherence, dataflow machines, and special purpose processors.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Joshua San Miguel
The workload involved reading papers and completing a semester-long project. While students found the paper readings challenging, they described the exams as straightforward or easy relative to the course content.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026#9 ·COMPSCI 744
Big Data Systems
3 creditsExplores design and implementation of big data processing systems, covering cluster architecture, execution frameworks, and applications like batch analytics and stream processing.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Shivaram Venkataraman
Students read two 15-20 page papers each week, one for each lecture. The final project related to class areas and was considered not too bad.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2025Focuses on variety and veracity challenges in data science, covering data exploration, cleaning, and integration for large datasets.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2025–Spring 2026#11 ·COMPSCI/ECE 766
Computer Vision
3 creditsComputer Vision covers fundamentals of image analysis, including acquisition, geometry, enhancement, scene characteristics, segmentation, shape and texture analysis, and parallel algorithms.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Mohit Gupta
The course included seven challenging homework assignments, with the third and fourth considered the hardest, and required Matlab proficiency.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Introduction to Computing provides a broad overview of computing, security, robotics, and AI, focusing on how computers work and algorithms solve problems via creative applications in a visual coding environment.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jeff Nyhoff
Students in Jeff Nyhoff's class said the material was fairly simple and that showing up to lecture, following along, and doing homework were enough to earn high grades.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2023–Spring 2026Introductory Data Science Programming I for Research course covering Python, programming basics, web scraping, database queries, and tabular analysis.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Topics in theoretical computer science covering advanced topics in algorithms, complexity, and cryptography; the exact topic varies.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Explores computational approaches to learning, covering inductive inference, connectionism, formal models, algorithm comparison, and cognitive modeling.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Mark Craven
Programming assignments covered around 60% of the grade, complementing the mostly theoretical nature of the course material.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026#16 ·COMPSCI/DS 579
Virtual Reality
3 creditsIntroduction to virtual reality focusing on creating immersive, interactive virtual experiences, covering history, graphics, perception, and HCI.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · J. Michael Collins
Exams were tough despite not requiring memorization, and the final exam was criticized for having too many questions for the allotted time.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Introduction to spectral methods (Fourier, Chebyshev, Fast Fourier Transform), finite element methods (Galerkin methods, energy estimates and error analysis), and mesh-free methods (Monte-Carlo, smoothed-particle hydrodynamics) for solving partial differential equations. Applications from science and engineering. Applications from science and engineering. Students are strongly encouraged to have programming skills (e.g.COMP SCI 200), undergraduate numerical analysis (e.g.MATH/COMP SCI 514orCOMP SCI 412), analysis (MATH 322and521) and linear algebra (e.g.MATH 341or equiv.)
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Maurice Fabien
The course required learning a large amount of material, with assignments strictly take-home and no in-class pressure. Reviewers noted the extensive prerequisite list made the content challenging before the semester even began.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Undergraduate elective topics in computing covering instructor-selected subjects with sufficient depth to meet CS Major requirements.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Josiah Hanna
In Josiah Hanna’s autonomous robotics offering, the total workload was fine. He collected questions before class to address complex concepts in clear detail.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Data Science Programming II covers intermediate Python data science, including graph data structures, reproducibility tools, A/B testing, and basic ML techniques like clustering and classification.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Gurmail Singh
Grading was based on six biweekly projects, two midterms, and one final. Projects took a long time, and homework was described as heavy, ranging from easy to challenging.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Covers probabilistic, algebraic, and geometric data models, mathematical analysis of learning algorithms and optimization methods, and ML applications.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Grigoris Chrysos
Homeworks and exams were challenging but commensurate with the proof-based, graduate-level nature of the class.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Software Engineering covers designing and modifying large software systems, focusing on processes, architectures, design patterns, and testing, with a substantial team-based programming project.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Scott Swanson
Lectures and reading materials were described as tedious, but the class required consistent effort to get value from the content.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026VLSI Systems Design covers MOS devices, IC fabrication, topological design, graphics layout, circuit simulation, system timing, and a design project.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Umit Ogras
A major project accounted for approximately 50% of the grade and was described as time-consuming.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Introduction to high-performance computing focusing on shared-memory systems, multithreaded programming, vectorization, and memory hierarchy using numerical algorithms as case studies.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Eftychios Sifakis
Lectures primarily involved case study go-throughs with code. Practice exams were provided for review, supporting the course's lenient grading structure.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2025–Spring 2026Introduction to Web Development covers secure/interactive web content, programming fundamentals, CMSs, accessibility, design, ethics, and website implementation using scripting languages and frameworks.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2025–Spring 2026Introduction to Software Security covers secure design, secure programming, vulnerability assessment, static/dynamic analysis tools, and system defenses across the SDLC.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Barton Miller
The class required weekly quizzes, a participation event, and extra credit opportunities. One student noted that while the course was less challenging than core CS classes, missing quizzes made getting an A difficult.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introduction to Computer Architecture covers processor design, instruction sets, control structures, memory management, caches, and I/O structures.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Setareh Behroozi
The course was described as extremely hard, particularly for undergraduates, with one student noting it made their brain hurt. TAs and the professor went the extra mile to break down difficult concepts.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introduction to Computer Networks covers architecture, protocols, layering, routing, security, and performance using Ethernet, IP, TCP, and HTTP.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Suman Banerjee
The course typically includes four moderate quizzes and four straightforward programs, though one student warned that the final program was particularly challenging.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introduction to Artificial Intelligence covering search, deduction, knowledge representation, machine learning, and probabilistic reasoning with applications in NLP, vision, and robotics.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Young Wu
Exams were reported as extremely difficult, with one student stating they were impossible to prepare for using class materials alone. Another described the exams as 'sadistic' but noted the instructor was helpful when students reached out.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introduction to software development of user interfaces, covering UI paradigms, diverse user input handling, and platform-specific APIs for web, mobile, desktop, and voice interfaces.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Yuhang Zhao
The workload was high but useful, with extensions and extra credit provided to help manage the intensity.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026#30 ·COMPSCI 200
Programming I
3 creditsProgramming I introduces fundamental CS concepts through incremental development of small programs. It covers problem abstraction, flow control, functions, and I/O, targeting students with no prior programming experience.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Andrew Kuemmel
Homework was due Monday through Thursday, often involving participation tasks that took significant time. Students also faced weekly Friday quizzes, with midterms scheduled on Sundays.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026