Historical instructor

GARY DAHL

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.16/5 from 155 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

COMPSCI/ECE 354
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Course materials are dense Emacs notes that are hard to read/annotate. Lec lacks visual structure, and vague explanations with frequent fillers make new topics difficult to follow. It often feels like review for prepared students rather than teaching beginners in low level coding, especially with the fast pace and biweekly quizzes.
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COMPSCI/ECE 354
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
I learned a lot from Gary and felt that the projects really helped me learn the class well. The lectures felt confusing at times but felt that I was able to freely ask him questions.
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COMPSCI/ECE 354
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Gary is a monotone professor. He simply reads off the slides. He does not seem at all passionate about the topic.
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COMPSCI/ECE 354
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Dahl seems like a nice guy but is incredibly boring. They are structured in a way that is hard to follow and will make you fall asleep. Overall, the class isn't too hard but it has been my least favorite CS course I have taken so far.
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COMPSCI/ECE 354
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Gary stalks this page and reporting every negative comment to put it down. Btw all the positive comments are written by himself. He complained about it on the lecture, that there are so many negative comments that he had to write a couple of positive ones. This guy is hilarious.
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COMPSCI/ECE 354
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
The course structure and instruction are so poor and confusing that you will not learn anything. There is no point in attending the lectures, as you will leave feeling perplexed. Gary then complains about students not showing up for lectures.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with GARY DAHL

COMPSCI/ECE 354

Machine Organization and Programming

3 credits

COMPSCI/ECE 354 introduces computer system structures and C programming, covering memory, assembly, and compilation.

No offering record · Spring 2026

with this instructor · course overall, matching historical terms

Hina MahmoodYiyin Shen+13 more

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2021–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2026COMPSCI/ECE 354Machine Organization and Programming
Fall 2025COMPSCI/ECE 354Machine Organization and Programming
Spring 2025COMPSCI 400Programming III
Fall 2024COMPSCI 400Programming III
Spring 2024COMPSCI 400Programming III
Fall 2023COMPSCI 400Programming III
Spring 2023COMPSCI 400Programming III
Fall 2022COMPSCI 400Programming III
Spring 2022COMPSCI 400Programming III
Fall 2021COMPSCI 400Programming III
Fall 2020COMPSCI 400Programming III
Spring 2020COMPSCI 300Programming II
Fall 2019COMPSCI 300Programming II
Spring 2019COMPSCI 300Programming II
Fall 2018COMPSCI 300Programming II
Spring 2018COMPSCI 300Programming II
Fall 2017COMPSCI 300Programming II
Fall 2015COMPSCI 540Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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