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Seng, John

Cumulative GPA: 3.72/4.00 with 36 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.78
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 3.69

Computer Engineering Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 1:48 pm, Apr 8, 2013 Report Evaluation		Seng is one of the top, if not the best, computer science professors at Cal Poly. His lectures are extremely easy to follow and consist of him writing notes on a tablet. Seng presents material well and is always open to questions. He is very helpful in office hours. As someone who had no prior programming experience, I needed extra help and Seng was happy to re-explain concepts and work example problems with me. Unfortunately, I didn't take advantage of his office hours until later in the quarter when I already failed the midterm. I did manage to finish with a C, which is funny because that's the language we learned. I have heard from upper division students that Seng is a best when it comes to robotics. He built and operated bomb squad robots for the Navy Seals, so he really does have practical world experience. At the end of the quarter, he invited our class to his house for dinner. Incredible professor and person!

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:42 am, Apr 8, 2013 Report Evaluation		He is AMAZING. He definitely knows his stuff, always explaining concepts in full details with a lot of examples following along it. He tries to find every possible way to explain everything so that the WHOLE class understands it. He is very helpful in class, in lab, and during office hours. If you ever have the chance to take him, PLEASE do take him. He is the best.

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 6:42 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation		This professor was great! Honestly a good rounded teacher. He really wants to make sure you understand the material, and cares more about that then grades. The lab quizzes were fair and the programs we had to do weren't too bad. Loved this class, and the professor!

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:02 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation		He is an AMAZING professor. He is super helpful and nice. He explains concepts very thoroughly and does a lot of example coding problems to make sure all the students understand concepts before moving on. I had him for CPE 123 and CPE 101 and he was amazing both times. Make sure you take him!

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:53 am, Mar 14, 2013 Report Evaluation		Professor Seng is inSENGly amazing. A few times he would show off his black belt skills in class before he would begin his lectures. It's a bit strange, but most definitely entertaining. He is great with students, and is very open. As far as I know, Seng can take on anyone in this school and he isn't afraid to show it. Be careful. Every now and then he would break his keyboard just by showing us an example in class. Overall, I highly recommend taking this man's class. You will not regret it.

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 5:57 pm, Mar 13, 2013 Report Evaluation		This guy was great! He was really intense. He's a former navy seal and runs his class kinda harsh, but it's very fair. He tells a lot of stories too. The best one is about him killing a bear with his bear hands. Don't remember the details but you will be in for a treat if you take him. I highly recommend him. You'll have a good time and learn a whole lot. And at the end, he gives you a pizza party sometimes! You should take him!

CPE 123 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 11:50 pm, Dec 6, 2012 Report Evaluation		Dr. Seng is very understanding, helpful, and knowledgeable. He will push back deadlines and extend office hours when he sees students struggling, and in the end, almost everyone in the class does really well, even without any previous experiences in programming.



CPE 123 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 4:00 pm, Nov 15, 2012 Report Evaluation		>>>ANY INCOMING CPE123 STUDENTS, MUST READ<<< Professor Seng aka godFatherOfRobotics is by far one of the hardest teachers out there. His classwork is extremely difficult for this class(no HW only Labs) and his Tests are the hardest thing you'll ever take. Just Kidding. Professor Seng is very good at recognizing if the class needs an extension on the current Lab(I think he already knows what the real due date should be, but he assigns an early date for when it's due so he can push it back and look like a super prof). His lectures are pretty broad, but if you need more help just go to his office hours. BTW his lab 1 is extremely easy, but the labs get extremely hard after that, once you understand the concept you won't forget it, but if you are new to programming(like I was) it will be hard at first to grasp, but Prof Seng is more than willing to help you and you will be able to learn from him if you go to his office hours. Dr. Seng is also very approachable and probably one of the easiest professor's to talk to/ socialize with. Also he is EXTREMELY, I mean EXTREMELY good at Starcraft. It's not a joke. Whenever there is a LAN party he is there dominating players. You can ask anyone in the robotics club, they will confirm this. Don't be fooled in class though, when he's behind his massive mac screen, he is playing Starcraft while working. The awesome thing is at the end of the quarter, he'll give an opportunity to get extra credit. If you beat him in a game of Starcraft he'll bump your grade up, but if you lose your grade may be affected. On a side note, he's also an active redditor. Overall: great professor, will help you if needed, fun person to talk to. On a side note: He never uses a mouse, or barely uses one. He's able to use any OS with lightning speed just by using the shorcuts on the keyboard. TL;DR: Read the thing, it's pretty useful

CPE 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 10:07 pm, Jun 1, 2012 Report Evaluation		I took Seng for CPE 101 as a freshman (last year)! Back when I took his class I thought he was just "okayyyy" but having had a couple more profs. here and there, I've learned to appreciate the man a bit more. I've had a few better profs here...but many more horrible profs. Seng is probably a couple notches above average compared to many teachers here at SLO. I was a bit frustrated with him at times because it was my first time programming and I at times didn't know what I was doing. I learned that to really learn programming, however, you really need to do your critical thinking...independently. I would often ask Prof. Seng a question and he would answer back "I think you are on the right track" or "Oh, maybe..." Very vague answers that I found moronic but you can't be told how to solve problems directly like in math or science classes. (You just gotta pull your hair and learn that way I guess, hopefully you get my point?) I was also really nervous because you have to pass the third (timed) lab quiz to pass the class. He gives you three chances, if you fail the first time, the second 3rd lab is EXPONENTIALLY easier. I literally walked out of that lab quiz in 10 minutes wondering why it was so much simpler than the first one. He wants you to pass. Class has a couple midterms and a final. Midterms are straightforward if you go to class once in awhile and do the labs/programs. They just cover the basic basic basics of the material covered in class. You also have labs and programs that need to be finished. After the third program, expect to put some time into it; DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Seng will help if you need it...just vaguely. The final isn't bad either, mine was a common final... My one real gripe with him is that he was sometimes not at office hours...I only saw him 1/4 times I went. (it was at 8am too...so waking up early for a ghost prof wasn't fun). Nice dude. Did I mention he grades the programs/labs ridiculously easy? Passed the class with a 98%.

CPE 123 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 5:45 pm, Jan 4, 2012 Report Evaluation		Dr. Seng in my opinion was a fantastic teacher. If you follow his guidelines during lab you get full points when you demo your program to him. Very helpful during lab time, office hours, and email. He was always fair in deadlines and always recognized when the class needed more time or extra help. I thought the way he taught programming made it very straightforward for a beginner to grasp.

CPE 123 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 5:03 pm, Jan 4, 2012 Report Evaluation		Great teacher all around. Very flexible and adept at recognizing his students' needs.

CPE 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:55 pm, Sep 27, 2011 Report Evaluation		Professor Seng has been the best teacher I've had at Cal Poly thus far. He knows and explains the material very well and in an easy going manner and, while difficult, his programs will help you immensely with your understanding of C. I came into Cal Poly with no programming experience whatsoever and finished the class feeling very knowledgeable about C. Definitely take him if he's available.

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:19 am, Apr 26, 2011 Report Evaluation		Seng was a great 101 professor. Programs were difficult but he always was extremely helpful in office hours.



CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:01 pm, Mar 26, 2011 Report Evaluation		Dr. Seng is a really nice guy. His lectures are extremely clear to begin with, but he's always happy to go more in-depth if people have problems. The labs (assignments to be completed during lab) and programs (lengthier assignments to be completed at home) weren't all that bad and turned out to be pretty interesting. Some of the programs got a little tricky, and could take some time to figure out and debug. I'd occasionally email Dr. Seng and he'd always reply (quickly) with some helpful tips. I never went to office hours, but I'm sure that would be very worthwhile if you ever needed to do so. Take Seng if you can. Especially if you haven't programmed before, he walks you through the basics nicely.

CPE 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:27 am, Mar 21, 2011 Report Evaluation		So I ended up getting a B+ in the class, but that wasn't because of him. It was because of the common final. Anyways, I came into the class with no programming experience at all. After the class I felt like I understood C. Seng is a great professor. He is able to teach the material in a structured clear manner. Definitely go to his office hours if you need help; he will definitely helpful. Programs and labs were ok. Watch out for the jump from program 1 to program 2, and program 2 to program 3. It is a hard transition. Grading is fair. If the assignment works perfectly, then you get 100% on the assignment. Midterm are ok. Most of the problems though are all or nothing, so watch out for that. As I said earlier, the final was insanely difficult, but each part was written by all the other CPE 101 teachers for the quarter. DEFINITELY TAKE HIM IF YOU HAVE NEVER PROGRAMMED BEFORE!!!

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 1:31 pm, Jun 8, 2009 Report Evaluation		John Seng is so far the best professor I have had. His lectures are well prepared and easy to follow, he is understanding and extremely helpful. His tests are not tricky and only test relevant material. Take this professor if you get the chance.

CPE 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 7:18 pm, Feb 23, 2009 Report Evaluation		It's taken me some time to actually get on polyratings and rate Professor Seng. I took him when I was a Freshman. He is possibly the best cpe 101 teacher you can take. He is extremely helpful and posts all his notes for every class on blackboard. He is very fair when it comes to partial credit on the programs. Watch out for the sudoku program....that one is a killer! The labs are easy and are a good supplement for you grade. He will help you enjoy programming no matter what major you are in!

CPE 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:31 am, Sep 24, 2008 Report Evaluation		Seng is a good guy. He is really understanding and helps you out during office hours to his fullest extent. If you don't do well on something, his office hours help you improve. He is my favorite teacher so far because he knows how to present material clearly and he is a very approachable person. I still say hi to him. I would recommend him for any programming class!

CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:23 pm, Aug 20, 2008 Report Evaluation		Great teacher. Presents well. Show up, do your work, ask questions. You'll be just fine. In my experience, one of the best. He should share his talent to others in the dept who desperately need it.



CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:30 am, Apr 3, 2008 Report Evaluation		Dr. Seng was great! I came to cal poly with NO experience in programing... (well, maybe a little bit in html script on myspace, ect.)... but still, I thought he was an amazing professor for being able to teach me so much! He really was a great communicator. He would use this tablet pc where he could show power point slides, and write on it at the same time... it was really cool, because if you forgot to write something down in lecture he'd upload it to blackboard. The beginning of the class was a bit confusing, but as long as you finish every program/lab by going to office hours, you'll do fine... However, don't expect this to be an easy A... Every 101 professor gave the same programs, and well, after the first few programs each would take me 15-20 hours! But it was worth it...

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 11:16 pm, Feb 19, 2008 Report Evaluation		Professon Seng was a extremely good professor. I didnt get the required C- or better but that was only because I am not the smartest person and barely did any work in the class. Now that I am retaking the class with O'Gorman, I really wish that I could go back to the good old days with J-Seng. If you have a chance I would advise you take him.

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:10 pm, Feb 15, 2008 Report Evaluation		i took his class my freshmen fall quarter and got through with a B but mostly because of labs. the projects are not terribly difficult but some seemed beyond the capability of a freshmen who has never done programming before (the sudoku puzzle project in particular) his office hours were a big help because i could understand him better there. my biggest piece of advice: start your programs as soon as possible and ask lots of questions in his office hours, unless you like wasting your friday night in front of your computer or at the computer lab till midnight finishing your program

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:22 am, Feb 6, 2008 Report Evaluation		Seng is not a bad teacher at all compared to other teachers i had that fall quarter. I just needed to ask more questions and spend a little more time studying. My grade is representative of not my lack of time put into the class but just not being able to think like a programmer. I would recommend him as a professor who is definitely fair and he didn't do any hand writting on the board cause he used his tablet pc and even posts the powerpoint slides with writting from his lectures online. The book is there even though he says get it, he never really assigned reading but the book does help as a reference.

CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:55 pm, Jan 12, 2008 Report Evaluation		Professor Seng is always willing to schedule time to help you. Even as a Sophomore, I go to his office hours for help in programming. Even though I had no programming experience, I was able to succeed because of Seng's help.

CPE 482 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: A Elective 1:52 pm, Mar 31, 2007 Report Evaluation		Professor Seng is great - he teaches us what we need to know and helps us when necessary on the robots. You learn a lot in this class - it's very hands on, and its fun too. Great class.



CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:59 am, Mar 29, 2007 Report Evaluation		Prof. Seng is a great instructor. He takes his time to explain concepts in lecture. I am a CSC and I did not find the course that hard. Grading works like this: Hw 20%, Labs 20%, Midterm 30%, Final 30%. His homework is very easy. Labs can be tough because of using Xilinx software(which is very, very buggy). The pace of the class is perfect. Also, he is really great when you talk with him. He guides you through the problem/question without giving you the answer or leaving you confused and feeling dumb. His test are fairly hard so be sure to study.

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:12 am, Mar 29, 2007 Report Evaluation		Does all lecture notes on his tablet PC, and uploads the finished slides on blackboard (which was not only neat, but also very helpful). The class itself was challenging, but also very rewarding. By the end of the class you will have designed a single-cycle CPU. The only downside is that he had us design everything in Xilinx using schematic capture. VHDL would have made everything so much easier ... Still, if I had the chance, I would take Professor Seng again in a heartbeat.

CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:01 pm, Mar 27, 2007 Report Evaluation		Difficult course presented primary for CPE majors which made it hard on a CSC major like me. Xilinx is no fun!

CPE 315 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 1:51 pm, Jan 8, 2007 Report Evaluation		Well, to start off i'll say generally he is a very good teacher. The tests are a little more difficult than what I was expecting but looking back on the course, there was plenty of material to get mired in so be careful to study what he mentions you should study during class. Also, pay close attention to the single cycle CPU project because even if your grade isn't heavily represented by it...this is the stuff the industry really cares about and it's very rewarding to know you designed, implemented, and tested a CPU! Seng provides a fairly structured class. I'm a 'devil in the details' type of guy so I was hoping the lab handouts (handouts were online in this case) were a little more informative and as structured as the lecture. Also, I felt that the questions I asked during the test, which were not geared towards getting the answer, were not answered adequately. Still, Seng did a good job and if I had really put in the time, this class would have been an easy B, and for you genius' out there, A.

CPE 482 Senior Grade Earned: A Elective 2:24 pm, Aug 9, 2006 Report Evaluation		This is absolutely the best class I have ever taken in my four years as a CPE student at cal poly. If you are a EE, CPE, even CSC, student, i would absolutely take this class as an elective, honestly, i would take this class just because. Dr. Seng is a great teacher. He is extreamely helpful and truely enjoys teaching. He cares about his students and is in no way condesending like some of our other proff's might be. No matter how rediculous the question was, he never responded negatively. The only problem with this class is that you won't want to work on any other class, you'll be wanting to work on ur robot all the time instead.

CPE 482 Senior Grade Earned: A Elective 9:22 am, Jul 31, 2006 Report Evaluation		Professor Seng is a great teacher. His lectures can be a bit dry at times, but he uploads the note sheets he is going over before class, then writes the notes in during class on his tablet, and uploads those notes after class, so you always have his notes. He does a good job explaining what is going on and he is very helpful in office hours. If you have any troubles with code or anything of the sort, he is willing to step through it and help you find your errors. I recommend taking Seng for 316 and especially 482. (I hear he was great for 520 as well).



CPE 316 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 9:42 pm, Aug 13, 2005 Report Evaluation		All the comments all u have giving him 4.0 is not right. It is correct that he is quite intelligent, and his tests are tough (but very doable). And yes he curves hugely. But one point you must make sure is that you are in his group of favorites and agree with most of his religious beliefs OR else curves in test scores will NOT help you. He is biased to say the least. No professionalism.

CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:31 pm, Aug 10, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr. Seng in an amazing professor. All his lectures are clear, well thought out, and very helpful for lab. Most of his lectures are done using a tablet PC that he uses to fill in the blanks with you. This helps him keep pace with the class and identify what he considers important. I agree that Dr. Seng is a very challenging grader. I struggled on all his tests, but it is worth it. He truly is the type of teacher that CPE needs. Every lecture is interesting. He is also an excellent club advisor (IEEE-CS).

CPE 316 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:53 am, Jun 15, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr Seng is the nicest experience you will have in Calpoly. He explains everything in a "for dummies" way, not because he is simplistic but because he wants you to get the basics right really fast. You can then use that to do something interesting. He grades in such a way that if you know a little bit about the material you will get a C. Getting an A requires a little more effort, but it is doable. Labs can be a pain, but not because of him, but rather because of the Blackfin board, which is awful. He is extremely accessible, and seems to really enjoy talking to students, sense of humor too. Take him over any other, Mealy included.

CPE 316 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:44 pm, Mar 23, 2005 Report Evaluation		I've had Seng for 315 and loved his teaching style so much, I was greatful that I could take 316 with him... he uses a tablet PC with powerpoint for all his lectures, so you always have his lecture notes. Be sure to print out and take his lecture notes to class as to focus on the material and not to waste your energy scribbling down everything. He's easy to follow in class, and is interested in your well being as a student. His tests are straight-foreward... just make sure you do the homework, and study your notes/labs inside-and-out. When taking a test, you'll feel crunched for time (they're loooong), but there is a curve. As long as you put down something that shows you know what to do, you'll get a lot of partial credit. Don't--DON'T--leave anything blank on an exam. He's great though!! Definitely take him!!!!

CPE 316 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:15 pm, Dec 29, 2004 Report Evaluation		Seng is one of the better CPE professors at Poly. He is intelligent, and knows how to convey course material clearly. He is also extremely helpful when asking questions in lab or office hours. The only downfall I have had with taking him for the last two quarters are his exams. They are too long and designed to make you fail. He gives a huge curve, but you better hope you did better than the others in the class if you want an A or a B. I would recommend taking him, but don't expect an easy grade.

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