Reviews of professor Phillip Buffum

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Not bad but not great. Professor Buffum's grading criteria are harsh. Every homework and lab is graded on a scale of 2 points meaning you either get 0%, 50%, or 100% on these assignments that make up most of your grade. As long as you turn something in you won't get a 0/2, but if it does not work perfectly then you will get a 1/2.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Buffum is a solid choice for 160. Data structures is a difficult class, but buffum does not make it more difficult than it needs to be. Tests and projects are tough but there is a heavy curve. VERY dry lecturer.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Buffum is a solid Python teacher. Kind of boring but in a funny way, especially when he starts using massive data sheets chronicling the entirety of The Bachelorette for a project. Course is 3 projects and a final project. Good job with explaining python, plenty of TAs and office hours for help. Tougher if you have no experience in comp sci.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Buffum is brilliant and gives lots of extra credit opportunity. This year, as a new professor, he was unfairly thrown into a Python course (he's a Java guy) while it was under reconstruction. The class thus was very unorganized and hard to follow; however, I think Buffum did the best he could. Avoid this class until it's stabilized (like a year).

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Professor Buffum is a fantastic choice for Intro to CS. Python is also a great course to take, and I would highly recommend this for anyone at Georgetown, even if you are not interested in computer science (I'm not). The class is worthwhile and straightforward.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 1.0/5
Nice guy but very monotone and boring to listen to. Take a more interesting professor. Class was easy though, except project 2.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
COSC 010 seems like it's gone through some serious changes recently, and both the class and the professor seemed a bit shaken up. You'll get out what you put into this class, and I tried a lot harder than others did. I'm leaving the course with a GPA bump and some very valuable python skills for work. Also- your TA grades you, so choose wisely!

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
He's a really nice guy but a nervous lecturer. The information comes out slow but he does give you material you need. Projects were super manageable, tough to judge tests because two midterms were vastly different in difficulty/course curriculum seems to be changing for the future. Overall not mad at this choice of prof at all, made it manageable.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Data Structures is a hard topic in general, but Professor Buffum does a good job of teaching it. The projects are interesting and are not that difficult (except the trees project). He assigns weekly homework that take a lot of time, but if you go to TA office hours you should be fine. His tests are hard, but fair/doable.