Mohammed Haque

This review is for Mohammed M. Haque at Northeastern Illinois University. The class is CS 207-32 “Programming II” – Spring 2001 – 7:00 PM to 9:20 PM Tuesdays. This class is essential preparation for anyone wanting to take CS 304 “Data Structures” and CS 410A “Object-Oriented Programming w/ C++”. I wholeheartedly recommend taking Prof. Haque for ANY computer science class that he teaches.

TEXTBOOK

“PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN USING C++” , 2nd Edition, by Gary J. Bronson, Copyright 2000, Brooks/Cole, ISBN #: 0-534-37130-2. A solid textbook that explains C++ programming concepts quite well. Prof. Haque assigned 11 chapters for reading from this book, and there are many excellent programming examples contained therein. The text is well written.

SYLLABUS

Not bad, in general. It gave his office hours, e-mail address, information regarding exams, quizzes, programming assignments, how the Final Grade would be calculated, a note regarding the importance of class attendance, and finally, a week-by-week breakdown of which topics/text chapters would be covered.

OFFICE HOURS

Tuesday 1:30 PM – 2:45 ; Tuesday 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM; Thursday 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM. From what I heard, he was always available and helpful during office hours.

TUTORS

None for this class, although from the looks of things, quite a few of my fellow classmates could have used one.

CLASS ATTENDANCE

ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL FOR PASSING THIS CLASS, if for nothing else than that this class is a PROGRAMMING class, and you can’t really learn how to program effectively in ANY computer language by yourself. There are many conceptually difficult concepts here, and missing classes continually will screw you up in no time. #####CRITICISM: Prof. Haque took one class off for a Muslim religious holiday, and of course, during the Spring, we have Spring break. Given that the class met once a week, there are TWO times in the semester where a student is effectively out of class for TWO weeks (14 days) between each cancelled class. It may not be the wisest idea to have a programming class meet only once a week, if for nothing else than, if a class is cancelled, it is 14 days between classes – long enough to have one’s brain cells rust. Perhaps it would be better if Computer Science classes that are heavy into programming meet twice a week, at least.

CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION

Prof. Haque is a kind and mild-mannered individual who has his students’ best interests at heart. He is THOROUGH when he explains concepts, and he has no problem reviewing topics as requested by the students. A favorite expression of his, right after he’s introduced a brand new concept, is “What’s this? What’s this?” When he says that, you know that he is trying to re-inforce something important. He appears to be constantly gauging whether his students are picking up the concepts. His blackboard examples are excellent, and his years of experience allow him to very quickly figure out what a student is trying to ask and also the best way to answer the student’s question. #####CRITICISM: Unfortunately, this desire to have EVERYONE be up-to-speed causes the class to fall slightly behind schedule as the semester progresses. Towards the end, he held classes over the ending time by about 20 to 30 minutes, and he continued teaching new material even to the very end of the very last class of the semester. I truly believe that the very last class of a semester is better utilized in reviewing concepts, rather than teaching brand new ones. Indeed, it may be better to have a few students just go ahead and drop out of the class than to hold up the rest of the class.

HOMEWORK

Chapter readings and programming assignments. The syllabus noted that there would be 6 to 8 programming assignments, and this semester Prof. Haque assigned 7. Quote from the syllabus: “IN ORDER TO GET AN “A” OR A “B”, ALL PROGRAMS (IN WORKING CONDITION) MUST BE TURNED IN BY THEIR DUE DATES OR WITHIN ONE WEEK OF THEIR DUE DATES; for a “C”, AT LEAST 80% OF THE PROGRAMS MUST BE TURNED IN.” #####CRITICISM: (1) Prof. Haque’s class handouts went a long way to “showing” student’s how to do the program. Indeed, he reviewed the “structure” of each programming assignment during the class the week before the program was due. So, it’s sort of silly to have the Computer Science Dept. declare that students MUST do their own work when it comes to writing programs, and then have any professor be so “hand-holding” when it comes to the actual programming assignments. But then again, what do I know, I’ve never taught a programming class. (2) The last program (program #7), which dealt with “queues”, was handed out on the last class day, and was due no later than 2 days after the final exam date. Also, the program was basically straight out of the class text (the text’s example on “queues”). I question whether it was necessary to assign a programming assignment so late in the semester, indeed, right before the Final Exam. (3) You can never really tell if a student did his own programming assignments, unless, that is, the programs all work, but performance on exams is dismal.

QUIZZES

The syllabus stated that there could be up to four pop quizzes, each worth 20 to 30 points. #####CRITICISM: Unfortunately, he never gave any quizzes. Toward the end of the semester, he DID pass out what he claimed was to be a class quiz, but then he later walked the class through the problems instead. I think that it would have benefited the class had Prof. Haque given us a few quizzes, especially when he taught “pointers”. It was evident that many students remained confused regarding how to effectively deal with “pointers”.

EXAMS

Three midterms (each worth 100 points) and one final exam (worth 150 points). After the second exam, Prof. Haque offers a type of “re-take” of the second midterm exam one week after the results of the second midterm are provided to the class. For this “re-take”, the student has the option of taking it to try to increase the grade on the second midterm (a lower score on the “re-take” is not counted). ******************The exams were very fair in content, difficulty and length. The Final Exam is no different than a midterm, so assigning it 150 points in worth is really a gift to his students.*************** #####CRITICISM: Although I applaud Prof. Haque’s generosity in offering a “re-take” of the second midterm, it appeared to me that people who had done really bad on the second midterm didn’t really improve their scores greatly with the “re-take”. Thus, although he tries to help his students, the “re-take” makes the class fall behind schedule.

CLASS MORALE

Very good, even though quite a number of students appeared overwhelmed at times. People like this guy, and with good reason. OTHER

If Professor Haque has a failing, it is that he is TOO generous. Some of the students in this class had no business being in there. And there was a minor problem in getting a group that huddled at the back to stop talking occasionally during the lectures. BOTTOM LINE

Even given the criticisms noted above, I remain steadfast in my opinion that Prof. Haque is an excellent instructor. Taking him is one of the best decisions that a Computer Science student can make for his academic career.

Greetings to all. It is rare that I give out a recommendation for a professor. However, it is a rare occurrence in this country when an excellent instructor is recognized and appreciated, and thus I feel that I must throw in my two cents and state my case.

I was working in the Accounting/Finance dept. of a computer systems company, and I decided on a whim to take a programming class in the summer. I decided on CS-333, C Programming, because (a) it was a well-known computer language and (b) there was no prerequisite to take it. I was very fortunate to take this class.

Prof. Haque is a mild-mannered, kind, gentle and very knowledgeable instructor. His communication skills are excellent (albeit with a slight foreign accent), his programming assignments are appropriate and his exams are challenging but fair. Prof. Haque exhibits care and concern for the well-being and learning of his students, qualities which are rare to non-existent in today's colleges.

When you read stories in the media about how American students are dummies compared to the rest of the world, you'd never think that an individual like Prof. Haque exists! Academics everywhere would "gain back their souls" if only they would take a page from Prof. Haque's teaching style.

The bottom line is that, if you are serious about taking Computer Science classes at Northeastern Illinois University, you can NOT go wrong by taking ANY class taught by Prof, Haque.