Unfortunately, I am a bit lower than the A cutoff becasue of academic burnout. However, I am surely that Dieter is the one of best professors I met at UW-Madison, from both academi and moral aspects. You can surely perform better than me if you do not choose too many other courses and spend time in this subject!

Genuinely one of the best professors I've had here. I broke my ankle in February, and he was the only professor to reach out to check in on me. He's knowledgeable and very approachable. The class is tough but the cutoff to get an A was about 80% - my advice would be to spend quality time with the hw to give your grade a buffer for the tests

I take his CS 577 Honors version. Although this is an extremely hard course, prof Dieter is very good and caring. He always encourages us and provides useful feedback. His rubrics are clear and detailed. Just try your best in the exams, then your partial credits will not be terrible, although the process is painful (for me, not a theory guy).

Deiter is an incredibly conscientious, caring professor. VERY hard material, but he graded very generously. I struggled early in the semester with a bad test grade, and I have never felt more empathy and genuine concern from a professor. He is very willing to accomodate/help all his students, even bending the rules sometimes.

Professor was nice even though the class is very tough, go to TA office hours is usually more helpful than his lectures unfortunately

Took the honors section of CS577 previously, which was much easier than this one. Dieter is always accessible after class, but it is easy to get lost during his lectures

Takes the Honors section with Dieter last Fall. Super solid choice. Super hard course but very generous grading. Dieter is always accessible (even not in office hours) and being super nice outside class and willing to give help. The way Dieter is presenting the material is touch but very inspirational.

Best CS professor, he explain everything clear. DEFINITELY take his section instead of whoever else is teaching. Really kind and generous professor. HIGHLY recommend his section.

Took the honors section with Dieter in Fall'21. Very solid choice. Cares a lot about you, and tries to accommodate. Tho I will say this was particularly because the class size was small (< 40), don't know how he fares in big classroom settings. Overall, if the class size is small, he will be a great choice.

Occasionally, Dieter's lectures can be too math-heavy and proof-based, and often times I was lost by the end, but Dieter does an excellent job answering any questions after class. Overall he cares what his students think, but it is just a hard and difficult class. Find a good hw partner and put in the time every weekend on it and you should do fine

He is a very knowledgeable professor and knows what he's doing. That being said, his handwriting tends on illegible. Hardest course I've ever taken, but I never for once thought it was because of bad teaching. Only other complaint was not knowing the curve until end of semester. Very stressful not knowing if I should drop the course due to my grade

Love him.

Dieter is a nice guy. But his teaching style is not good. I had to learn the material from YT MIT lectures even after watching his lecture videos. Graded by exams(90%) which was a lot of pressure. I did not get a clear understanding of the material from his lectures. For such a crucial cs class it was taught very poorly- hindered my cs knowledge

Based on the fact that algrithm is hard, Dieter did a good job on teaching this. Though some notations on the writing are elusive, this course is well-organized and you can learn tons from it if you really put your time in and figure out what those concepts mean and how to make proofs. Abstraction is what algorithm is.

He is clearly a smart professor, but the hinders him from being able to explain topics to students that have no idea what he's talking about.

Hes a good professor. He teaches well and takes the feedback from students very seriously. His handwriting improved so much over the semester. His lecture note is useful but can be a bit too rigorous. Reading the textbook first may be better. Expect to spend lots of time for the homework and reading if you want to do well.

Dieter teaches the material in a very convoluted math-y way that won't make sense to those just learning the material for the first time. The TAs and peer mentors are much more helpful in aiding your understanding than he is. The homeworks take a while to complete but are not unreasonably difficult if you pay attention in lecture and discussion.

Always talking to himself and illegible handwriting make the class even harder to understand. I mean, when teaching algorithm, a professor is supposed to "teach and explain" in a way that students can understand, but what he does is just "saying" in a way that he can understand. Boring professor who lives in his own world.

The professor has a terrible handwirting, and he most often doesn't use lecture slides. He uses a projector and project his handwriting duing the lecture. To make things worse, sometimes he only read out after he finished writing the sentence. It's hard (but do-able) for me to catch up with his lecture in my notes. The lectures are recorded though.

Nice guy, but terrible professor. The book is so old and thin, you will feel like you have no resources to go to to learn about the subject, including the Internet. Numerous times he has assigned homework problems that literally he and the TA cannot solve. It's like the unsolvable math problems from the movie Good Will Hunting.

Prof is very intelligent and fair. Take the course, you will really learn

One graded HW problem plus some ungraded ones and an autograded EC programming problem per week. Very difficult, but usually possible if you give it some serious attention. Exams are difficult, but he gives plenty of time and grades generously. Good, clear lectures and notes. He's a genius and passionate. Difficult, but good if you want to learn.

Amazing Professor

Pros: He is very knowledgeable and you will learn A LOT from him. He quickly and clearly responds to emails, online/Piazza questions, etc. The curve was generous; 78% was an A. Cons: Words cannot describe how hard the weekly homework is. I put at least 10 hours per week into the homework. This was the hardest class I've ever taken hands down.

Course will teach you how to think

This class is about as difficult as it gets, and Dieter expects a lot from you. The weekly homework is challenging, as are the exams. However, Dieter is an incredibly thorough lecturer. He misses no details. If you want to really gain some ground in theoretical computer science, take 577 with him.

Hard to do without post-grad math knowledge, unnecessarily complicates concepts and tests on related but not actually taught topics.

Dieter's teaching philosophy relies on challenging you (almost to the point of disillusionment; homeworks were harder than a comparable class at MIT) like you've probably never been challenged before. That being said, you won't learn more in an algorithms course. He's incredibly helpful in office hours. Review sessions are also super helpful

Monotonous speaker; but great course. Assignments make you learn and some effort is required to keep up. Definitely worth it.

I worked hard and get A for other CS courses but get a C at CS577. Only 50% of students can get a score of A-B, others will get a BC-D. So be careful before you take Dieter's CS577, yikes!

Pretty monotonous speaker. Homeworks are difficult and involve a lot of problem solving. That said you'll definitely learn -a lot- from this course, provided that you put in the work.

I hate it!

My best class ever. Dieter rocks!

Most homework solutions can be found online, ACM, OJ or other universities' hwk. So don't worry about the homework.

Best professor other than Joseph.

So hard, Dieter is good at make things you like to you hate. Make your dream become nightmare.

This is the hardest CS class I have ever taken on campus. I did very well for all of the intro CS class and expect i could nail this one. However, it is not easy. Expect to work a lot of time on the exam and homework. TA is very helpful. Also, Dieter is a really smart professor, once you take his class, you will learn much more than otherwise.

Very Hard intro teacher, but was a very smart guy. Just not the best teacher. I felt as though I didn't really learn anything, I got an A/B because I didn't bomb the tests as bad as everyone else. Curve was awesome and homework was hard and took a lot of time. Avoid teacher for math/cs240 but I'd image he's good for the higher level classes.

worst professor ive had at UW. managed to make a 200 level class ridiculously impossible. avoid at all times

I think Professor van Melkebeek has a lot to learn about teaching an intro class. However he was insanely generous with the curve, so at least he recognized that the class was waaaaaay too hard. Overall not a bad professor, and was very helpful and instructive if you go to office hours.

He knows his math, but doesn't know how to teach it to you. No textbook and only notes from an MIT class make learning the material difficult. Homework is very hard, but a 50% will get you a B on most assignments. I did spend at least 10 hours on only 5 problems for each assignment to get those 50%'s though.

Clearly a smart man, but should not be teaching this class. Avoid!

Dieter is one of the smartest professors I have ever met. He has a hard time coming down to the level of an undergrad taking a 200 level course. The explanations and proofs are all pretty difficult to understand. You don't need to go to the lecture to do well in the class.

Dieter is obviously very smart--one of the smartest people I have ever met. However, I would not advise him for CS240 or any other "intro" level class. Just look at his class history--it is all 700/800+ grad classes. He knows his stuff, but makes the material way too complicated and the homework and tests ridiculously hard for a 200 level.

Much harder course than I was expecting. Dieter is obviously incredibly bright, but doesn't seem to be able to explain the material all that well. Lectures are very boring, but missing puts you way too far behind. Office hours help a lot for the homework. The course was redone this semester, and it is definitely a lot more difficult than before.

Prof van Melkebeek is obviously a super smart guy, but he is NOT a good teacher. The hw requires you to know things not brought up in lecture. Second midterm class avg grade was a 52%. He also seems annoyed when people ask questions in class, I get the impression he hates having to be there.

TOOOOOOOOO HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD

If you take his course you need to attend his officer hours every week or else you will get a horrible grade on homework. One of the hardest entry level course I have ever take. Two exams and one homework right after spring break!!

terrible professor. he cant explain things clearly and he tests laws and theories that are never covered in lecture or the reading materials. he makes this class impossible. Go take CS240 with him if you really hate yourself.

This class is very tough - other professors have told me he teaches it like a graduate class, but that means you learn a lot as well. If you're serious about algorithms, take Melkebeek, but expect to work for it.