The best way to describe Cohoon's teaching style is lax, strongly self-dependent, and ironically fast-paced. In the beginning of the course, he makes students sign declarations for absolutely 0 programming experience and promises all he can to go slowly. However, you will soon discover that if you indeed come in with 0 programming experience (I was an Arts & Sciences student), you will need to be attentive to every single word he says in class. Personally, I found his frequent errors in thought, logic, and speech very distracting. I do not believe his class will give the broad basics of programming as I had gone in hoping for. Nevertheless, I will admit that establishing a strong relationship (not reliance) with the TAs in the class will be no doubt crucial to your success in this course. All else being set aside, consider your classmates and their performance.

If you have some programming experience and work well learning on your own, take this class for sure. If not, I would highly recommend trying your luck somewhere else.

I absolutely LOVED this class! Everyone comes in with no programming experience so everyone is on the same page. There is homework almost every class but they are not too difficult - especially since TAs almost constantly host office hours. The professor is fantastic- he really knows how to engage a large class and explain things well. Made me think about majoring or minoring in CS and is probably my favorite class at UVA so far- take this class!!!

One of the best classes I've taken at UVA. This is an introductory programming course that teaches you how to use Dr. Java. From not considering computer science at all, I'm seriously considering double majoring (or at least minoring) in computer science. 1112 is for people with absolutely no programming experience coming in, so if you do secretly have programming experience I would imagine that the class will seem VERY slow and dull at the beginning. Cohoon is an awesome guy with a great sense of humor and is one of the best teachers I've had at UVA so far. He does have a very layman approach to teaching where he will show you how to write a bit of code and then it is up to the students to ask clarifying questions (for that reason, some might say that he's not the best teacher but I found it perfectly fine). It's a lot of fun and I looked forward to every class. There's going to be maybe two or three classes that have the boring powerpoint slide lecture feel, but other than that you are actively coding and learning each class. The TA's are great and helpful (Cohoon uses them a lot and they're the main force behind all the office hours and reviews). The tests are fair. I would pretty much get everything and then get stuck on one bit of code (that seemed to be the general response to the tests). Then when he goes over the tests you realize that you totally could have gotten that and then slap yourself on the forehead. Getting an A is definitely feasible if you pay attention and do your work.

Cohoon was a great professor for an intro level class. Homeworks were simple enough to basically get done in class with some assistance from the TA's and the tests were not bad if you go over previous homework's and past tests, which he provides.

I learned a lot in his class. I hope he would use eclipse instead of DrJava. But I learned alot.

Cohoon was an awesome professor who knew how to engage a large class and have fun at the same time. A few projects were slightly difficult, but in general it was very easy (I had zero programming experience). He and his TAs are always available to help, and there's no reason why everyone can't get an A... I believe it's the modal grade. Take it!

This course was incredible! As a Cog Sci Major with no programming experience, this course scared me at first, but Professor Cohoon and Luther are amazing at explaining the concepts. All of the other TA's in the class were extremely helpful as well. A Must-take, even if it's not a major requirement

either you get it or you don't. prof. cohoon almost teaches this class as if you should have prior programming experience. avoid if you can.

Professor Cohoon is very enthusiastic about this class. However I found his lectures to be quite boring and very monotonous. He wants you to read the book, but I didn't find it helpful. Whenever I did read the assigned reading I showed up to class more confused than I would have been if I hadn't read. He gets pretty upset if you don't turn in homework assignments or miss class. The class isn't all that hard though and there are about 10 TA's who all have office hours that are very helpful if you can't figure out the homework. It is pretty easy to do well in this class if you are willing to put in the required effort and time. You have a homework assignment about once every 2 days and they each take around 2 hours. If you are willing to put in the work for this class its fairly easy to get a good grade but if you are looking for a relaxed intro CS class I would avoid this one.

This is definitely one of those classes where you either get it or you dont in my opinion. However, the professor and TAs make every effort they can to help you understand it. The weekly homeworks can be annoying at times but they are great for preparing for the tests. The TAs also hold a million office hours every week so if you go to them for help with homework you are basically guaranteed a 100 homework average - take advantage of these TA office hours. Tests definitely reflect homework problems and you are allowed to have 2 pages of notes so I recommend just copying and pasting the programs onto them. Overall a good class - recommended to people with no programming experience