Changes

Few will enter, fewer will survive. This course makes the microcoded CS237 look simple in comparison. The homeworks are okay--or at least you feel--until you get your marks back with circles and crosses on everything, and you will wonder "why was this, why was that wrong?" Of course, Professor Tom Murtagh always explains stuff when you go to him, but you won't get a clear explanation until you are marked wrong. Exams are hard. On a scale from 1-10, the midterm is 7, and the final is 10. There are things not ever discussed before, or those that hide in obscure places of the textbook. In short, exams are like 24-hour take-homes squeezed into 2 and a half hours. On the positive side, you get to learn a lot about Tom's methodology not only as a computer scientist, but as a scholar. He penetrates into the impenetrable depth of every reading he assigns and, being a skeptic himself, finds fault in there, just as he finds faults on your homeworks and exams. In other words, he treats you like a mature scientist, giving you the same weight as he will give to professionals. If you are confident on with your physics and computer science, take it.