CS220 is a sneaky difficult class. Projects are easy (until the end) but tests are very difficult. Oliphant does a good job during his lectures, where he has the class code alongside him.

CS 220 is not a hard class, it's just annoying. Louis's lectures are clear and concise with lots of examples and demonstrations. Find project partner and form study groups, spend time with code and concepts and you are likely to succeed in this class.

He only has (or had) a low rating because of the first semester he taught CS 537 (Fall 2023). I was in this class and the 1/5 ratings are because of a tentative piazza post that said the grade cutoffs may not change. They did change and over 40% of the class got an A. Oliphant was a good lecturer and could simplify topics well.

During lectures, instead of taking notes, he has you code along with him. This style makes lectures interesting and a lot more bearable. Professor Oliphant is really great at lecturing and has a very fair grading scheme and late policy, and he even gives easy extra credit. One of the most straightforward classes I have taken.

Generous and accommodating with extra credit/grades and a great lecturer. I took this class about a year ago and I look back on it with fond memories. The projects were time-consuming and difficult but there was support at office hours and the class 100% made me a better software engineer. Allocate enough time for yourself and you'll be okay.

This class is substantially harder than any other CS class I have taken. The projects were unbelievably time consuming. Louis is a good choice though, very kind and lectures are clear. Go frequently to office hours if you want to do well in this class.

Loved taking CS220 with Louis — his lectures were strongly structured and easy to follow. The projects were long but nowhere near impossible, and there's a lot of resources for studying for tests.

If you are taking CS 220 I would recommend taking Prof. Oliphant. He provides lecture materials to students so you can easily study and there are a lot of resources to help with weekly projects.

He was literally fine. Not a great lecturer in the sense that he doesn't use slides he just talks so he is hard to follow

Dr. Oliphant is a really good professor and is easy to access outside of class. His lectures are worth going to, as they're very in depth and helpful. They are live coding and I enjoyed CS 220 in comparison to CS 400.

For an intro coding class, Louis was a great teacher who broke these concepts down into easily digestible sections. Weekly projects take a bit of time, however this class is the best case of "trial by fire" as you will either learn cs or crash and burn with the more complex concepts.

The lectures could get pretty boring at times. CS was not something that came easily to me so sometimes the lectures were also hard to follow since you are just coding along with him. Seems like a very nice man, but there were many times where he would also get confused in what he was doing, especially when reviewing questions on past exams.

Mr. Oliphant is an excellent quality of character and he brings a humorous charm to his lectures. He's very accessible outside of class, and he's very willing to sit down and help you through a problem. Incredible man. I don't really intend to take another CS class (it's simply not my interest), but he certainly enhanced my experience of CS220.

Professor Oliphant is an okay professor, he's very kind and approachable. You really need to stay on top of the material because it all builds upon itself. The readings were kind of helpful, but you definitely need to go to lecture. As the material got harder, his lectures were less and less helpful.

Overall, a good into class. Theres a project each week which can be overwhelming, but they aren't too difficult. You could go over his lecture material yourself if you happen to miss a class or just not go. The midterms aren't the easiest but there is good review material. He's willing to explain topics again if you ask.

The professor is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about his craft. He has a fun personality and is decent at explaining the content during the lecture. He also goes through the lecture code (on Jupyter Notebook), so you get to see how it's done live.

His lectures can get boring at times but it's not that bad. I've missed quite a few lectures and never go to lab but I'm still getting good grades. The exams are all MCQs and pretty easy. Almost half of your grade comes from the projects, which are guaranteed 100s because you have to pass the auto graders before submitting.

Louis is a very helpful professor. The projects can be quite difficult but there are drops, and the exams are multiple choice which is tricky.

While professor Oliphant was a super nice guy and overall a good teacher, I think the structure of his lectures was a little strange. He would spend a lot of time on the super easy stuff, then breeze through the difficult/new material. Going to lecture helps in this class, but to get an A you're going to need to put in work outside of class.

Louis was a good professor and taught the material relatively well. At times though lectures could get boring, but going over his lecture notes after class is SUPER helpful and I was able to understand all concepts that way. Tests are terrible as they are multiple choice exams and purposely tricky. Make sure to do lecture notes and practice exams.

Seems like a nice guy, fairly interesting lectures and always available to answer questions. I can tell he is interested in the subject which is good. My main complaint is exams, multiple choice comp sci exams (I had him for cs 220) should be illegal lol.

He is a good professor compared to other CS faculty at UWm. For me, the problem was just the concept of OS, but we know OS topics are inherently difficult lol. Overall, he's a good and flexible professor.

I had Louis for CS220, and I think it was his first time teaching it. He never provided lecture slides, just coded up front. I think the other lecturer (Michael) had slides, which would've helped me, especially on the quizzes. Overall, not bad, especially compared to what I've heard about other CS profs here.

Oliphant is nice, but he's a monotonic lecturer IMO. Oliphant did not seem to be on the same page as the rest of the teaching staff a lot of the time. As a result, the course was not organized properly. Projects were incredibly useful for understanding and applying the material, unlike the lectures.

One of the better CS lecturers I've had. Good energy/pacing with good slides and engaging discussions. Lectures and previous exams prepare you well for tests. Communication with TAs wasn't great, making the projects incredibly convoluted at times (get a good partner). If the projects are better organized in the future, this would be a great class.

Very nice professor that taught the content in a simple, but direct manner from the OSTEP textbook. Nicely paced lectures and took feedback regularly. The projects were handled messily, but that is mostly due to the TAs being unprepared, and gave a generous curve with plenty of extra credit over the semester. Those complaining earlier were wrong.

Great lecturer. Clear, engaging, well-planned, correctly paced, and really friendly. The gripe most people had was with frequent disorganization of projects; this seemed to be the fault of TAs (and Louis' first time managing such a large class). He got better over time, and was clearly working to improve the class and help all students succeed.

I think a lot of people left negative reviews based on him initially not indicating a curve. He did end up doing a pretty generous curve at the end. Lectures were clear and have great experience, especially since it was a his first time teaching the class. OS is a lot of work but worth it.

Louis is a great professor, but expect many issues if TA's are still running projects. Unclear grading criteria and limited help led to a very strained semester, right up until the last day. However, I don't think anyone would say this is on Louis - he did an excellent job of teaching the course material. Beware of the TA's.

He is a great lecturer, there is some inconsistency in grading but overall he is fair. The projects and exams can be intensive but you will get decent results if you commit to them.

Choose a different prof if you can.

Good lecturer and explains concepts clearly. Grading is unconventional and unclear. Curving is replaced with extra credit for this always-curved course without letting students know. Won't compensate decent work for irresponsibility of the other partner in group projects. Be prepared to get low grades with a large commitment.

Good lecturer, well-spoken and clearly explains concepts, but grading is unconventional and unclear. No curve for an always-curved course and won't compensate at all for irresponsibility of the other partner in group projects.

actually the worst OS professor this university has to offer

Not recommended, Grade cutoffs is not flexible

Louis Oliphant is one of my favorite professors at UW and we are very lucky that he joined.