[radnom]

I took the class as a freshman, taught by Matthias, and then was a grader/lab helper the following year. (Oh gosh, this is all 15 years ago now)

In my observation, it was those with previous java/c++ experience that couldn't let that go who struggled the most. Total newbies were a blank slate and more likely to 'get it', assuming they have the abilities needed to succeed in a CS program.

[pooya72]

I would say that was my experience as well. It actually took me a while to understand why I would use classes and objects.

[kaesar14]

Could just be different strokes for different folks. I thought OOD in java taught by Lerner was way better (Card game project opener was wonderful) and just made more intuitive sense. I didn't honestly get functional programming until circling back to Racket in PL.

I would also say Matthias is a legend and my instructors were nowhere near that level.

[mynameisvlad]

+1 as someone who took and TAed it for multiple years at UBC. The people who came in with preconceived ideas of CS were the ones that struggled the most.

We had a bypass exam, which was more or less the final for the course. If you passed it, you got the credit. I don’t think a single person passed it while I was there.

[legerdemain]

Matthias Felleisen co-wrote a book on Java, elegant uses of class-based inheritance, and elegant design patterns.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262561150/a-little-java-a-few-p...