Ronald R. Henley

Prof. Henley is not an easy teacher, but he doesn't grade hard. I took both Isys 367 and 375 with him. His project is TOUGH and he does give an assignment every week. If you take good notes and do all the assignments, you won't have problems with his exams, since he tests you on what he lectured.

Don't wait til the last minute to do his project, you won't have enough time. I spent more than 100 hours on each project and still couldn't get it to work the way I want it to. You MUST do the project to pass his class. Most people drop his class because of the project.

I went to his office almost once a week for help. He explained the materials to me over and over and over again until I understand them. As long as you show interests and willingness to learn, he'll help you.

It's true. Teachers like Henley are hard to find at a public school. Normally, you don't find people of that caliber at a school like SFSU.

Don't get me wrong, I love SFSU. But not because I've fooled myself into thinking that this an upper-tier college. No, it's a great school because it's a city school, and in the best city in the world.

Back to Henley. I'd avoided him, mostly from reading reviews here about how much he sucked. And that first week of class, I was seeing why people would write such things. Then something strange happened.

The class started with about 10 students. When Henley told us that the final project, a good portion of the grade, was a solo effort, that number dropped to 6. After the first exam, where one guy actually stood up and walked out (Henley serves different tests for different sections), the number fell to 4.

Small class dynamics took effect, where privacy about grades simply does not exist. This might seem like a bad thing, and at first glance, maybe it is. But the twist is this, when you know that the guy sitting next to you is doing well, you'll want to find out what he's doing to get the grade. Your grade then improves.

When you don't know what it takes to get a good grade, you take that loser stance, and start telling people that you don't care about the course, and then begin to slam the teacher for not being a good one. Never mind the fact that you haven't a clue, probably don't study, and "getting by" in your f'd up world involves cheating, plagarism, and generally being a sleaze. We know who you are.

The thing is, so does Henley. In the first couple weeks of class, he will be weeding out what he calls the "CVs." Collegiate vultures. That strange breed of student that feeds off the hard work of others. So if his class size bothers you, guess what you are?

There were 4 students that left Henley's class with something of value in the real world: knowledge.

I saw this Professor's review dated 1/7/2003, ID:22186. I never took this professor's class before. But I have some questions about this professor:

"Professor Henley is a very good teacher."

1. My question is that how come his class(ISYS573) have less students(only 9 students) than other professor(20 students) comparing with the same class schedule . BTW, there are two sections of this class(TTH 0810-0925,sp2003) at the same time(different Professors). This professor's another section class(ISYS 573,T 1535-1820) only has 6 students. (this info is based on the SFSU Class Schedule,sp 2003)

2. This professor's ISYS 265 class still has less students than any other professors. I doubt this professor's capability of teaching at SFSU.

As I mention the situation above, why didn't the department chair cancel this professor's classes since his ISYS 573 is less than 10 students? I think it is wasting the school's resources since the school's budget is tight.

Any comments about this professor? Please respond. Thank you!

Professor Henley is a very good teacher. Programming is a difficult subject and he tries hard to help students to understand it better. This class is very hard and has a difficult project but it is worth the effort just make sure you have taken ISYS 365 or 367 before enrolling. I would recommend Professor Henley to others.

I must say this teacher is really smart BUT he can't teach java. We spent 3/4 of the semester reviewing material that was taught in 267. Then out of the blue he starts teaching material that he personally has no real world examples or good explinations.

I admit he does push you to limit with the exams and the project that will definetly help you in the JOB WORLD, BUT I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER IN THIS CLASS IF IT WAS TAUGHT ONLINE.

Seriously, when ever I asked him a question or went to his office hours (which was probably once every 2 weeks or so) he never, NOT EVEN ONCE, gave me an answer I could use. Plus his office hours are at terrible times, 7-8 AM on Tues and Thursdays.

I think it is teachers like this that waste the COB's resources. The only reason he teaches a class like this is because; 1) He is smart (taught at both Cal and Stanford). But we are not at Cal or Stanford 2) He does the evaluations of other teachers. 3) He has been in the field for a long time.

I know programming is a hard course, but it is the teacher that should help you understand the material. Henley didn't make the material understandable for me, he did however make it confusing.

Henley is one of the better ISYS teachers at SFSU. Alot of students are scared off by rumors about him being a tough teacher. He's not as bad as what you hear, he's actually a pretty understanding teacher. You just have to stick around and stay to the end. 70% of the students drop out after the first few assignments & quizzes but it's only 45% of the overall. The major points is the project & final exam which he pretty much gives u all the answer cuz the questions are taken from his old quizzes. The project is kinda tough but if you actually put some time & effort into it, it's all good. (don't wait til the last minute--I've waited & spent 25 hours straight working on it the weekend before it's due)

C# is not a hard class; everything is drag & click. The only programming you have to do is write in the eventhandlers to tell what should it do when a button is click or a menu option is selected. I've taken COBOL, C++, Perl, SQL, and Jave. C# by far is the easiest programming language.

Make sure you go to class & take good notes. All his exams are from class examples. If you don't do well, don't worry about it; u'll pass the class as along as u do the project & take the final exam. (I've missed like 4 hw and didn't do well on the quizzes but I ended up with a B+ in the class) I was totally shocked.

Henley's ISYS573 class is just plain tough. I'd like to premise this review by saying that only a very small handful of people (6-8) were still in the class by the end of the semester (me not included).

This class should have been called "Application Development using C# and Visual Studio .NET" as it is a much better description of what you do in class. You will spend all your time programming in this class, and it's very time consuming. Even if you were able to grasp all the material, it will still take a lot of time to do the weekly assigned lab homeworks, and the monster of a final project which you will need to do all by yourself.

As for grades, Henley understands this is a tough subject so he takes that into account (I think).

One thing I don't like about Henley is that he's not a very good lecturer. I don't mean that he can't speak. He's actually a pretty eloquent speaker and explains broad concepts very well. What I mean is that his lectures are delivered from a very broad overview standpoint but what students need is for him to dig a little deeper into the code so we can actually understand the different types of algorithms that is needed to do the homework. He will never go over the code that is assigned for homework. This is a tough programming class, and students can figure out concepts on their on by reading the book beforehand. What they need is for the instructor to translate what they read into compilable examples that they can learn from--hands on.

When he does introduce code, it's only its only a part of a larger whole. He does not introduce any hands on coding with a computer either. He introduces all subject material by writing it on the blackboard which leads me to believe he's not too confident that code he writes will actually run/compile. Every classroom in the BUS building is wired to a projector so theres really no excuse not to use it.

Anyway, Henley certainly isnt the worse programming teacher in the ISYS dept (Hunter) but he has a lot to improve on in terms of communicating his lectures more effectively by presenting real code that can be compiled in class!

Although I've heard so many bad things about this instructor before taking his classes, I don't think that Prof. Henley is all that bad after all. Yep, he definitely assigns a ton of work, and the homeworks can take up alot of time-- better not take too many classes if you should take his programming class! :) The exams that he gives are not difficult as long as you understand the lectures, since his tests are all lecture based. That's better than reading the book, definitely. The project... it is one big project that he assigns for the semester, and it's not impossible, although difficult, to figure out and complete, but again, the only problem is that you have to build the program from scratch. (I spent about 60-70 hours on it.) So, getting started early is key to finishing the project. Lectures... his lectures are understandable and not difficult to understand, but unfortunately, he doesn't show you the code beyond the basics, and so that's one of the reasons why I think I spent quite a bit of time doing my homework. Office hours... Prof. Henley is there to help, and he doesn't intimidate his students there, which means that you can ask him almost anything without feeling that he might yell at you. Personality... very nice professor, and is always willing to help his students. I would recommend taking Prof. Henley's class if you really enjoy learning programming, and if you want to learn alot (because you will learn alot from taking his classes).

For a teacher, Henley is great. He knows his subject very well and it shows. If you really want to learn, he's the guy to take.

The only problem is...

There's too much work!

He assigns homework every week and they literally take hours to complete. He also gives quizzes every other week to make sure you're on top of the reading assignments. These quizzes are based on the reading and his lectures and they are HARD.

The midterm and final are difficult too. They're not trick questions, but they're specific and you have to know your material really well.

The final project takes a lot of work. If you want to finish it (and you do because it's worth a BIG chunk of your grade), then start on it the moment it is assigned. I made the mistake of waiting until the last minute to start on it and was not able to finish it. Big mistake. You can't understand the magnitude of the work involved until you start on it and that's when you go, "Uh oh." So start on it early and go to him for help if you need it. It is possible to complete...it just takes a lot of time.

The final is cumulative so be sure to keep all your notes in good order throughout the semester. Studying the lecture notes helped more than studying the text and homework, but see what works for you.

If programming is not your strength, you will struggle in this class. But if you're serious about programming and want to learn, this is definitely the class to take.

I think your experience in Henley's classes depends on what you want to get out of BICS program at SF state. A lot of people in the classes are just there to get a degree in a computer related field and aren't serious about becoming programmers. For these people who are new to programming and who aren't sure they really like programming and are in the BICS program because they want a degree in a computer related field with an emphasis on business, Henley is going to be a tough pill to swallow. The problem is that the BICS program is a like a "bastard child" between business and computer science.

Henley is trying to teach Java and C++ to students who may not have the same background as those in the Computer Science dept. Java/C++ is hard enough for those with the extra math background that CS majors have let alone for those in those in the BICS program who may be primarily interested in business.

80% of the students in Java 375 were having problems keeping up. The project due at the end of the semester was really difficult. It took me over 120 hours of intense work to come close to completing it (I should have spent more time on it). I'm guessing that 50% of the students dropped out or didn't finish the project when it was due. Those that did finish it learned a hell of a lot.

The bottom line is that Henley is maybe the best programming teacher in the BICS dept. But if you aren't crazy about programming, don't take him even if you have to wait a semester to get another teacher. If your just trying to get the BICS to go into business, take another teacher (I forget the names, but other BICS teachers are easier for Java/C but you won't learn as much).

I had Henley for both BICS 365 (C++) and BICS 375 (Java). I'd recommend him to folks that plan on using programming a lot in the future. His courses are not easy. But he is a very fair instructor and he really wants his students to learn. If you put in the time and ask questions when you're not clear on a concept - Henley will help you build a strong programming foundation. Yup, he gives quizes every other week, and there are time consumming homework assignments due every week. His courses are hard, but you can get a lot out of them. Don't plan on taking one of his courses when you've got a full schedule - you need to devote a lot of programming hours to these courses. He may appear to be in his own little programmer-geek world, but he's actually very personable and has a great sense of humor.

You better have a lot of time on your hands for this class. There is homework every week, quizzes every other week, and a ridicuously hard project due at the end of the semester. The midterm and final are sweet though because they are based upon the quizzes. The lectures are really sophisticated and rarely have anything to do with the book which is a bummer but take good notes and you'll do find. The key is to remember the catch phrases he uses in class and write them down. His "chicken scratch" is quite miserable but hey, ask him what he wrote, how tough is that? At least he is a personable guy, most of the BICS teachers here are miserable, downtrodden, and quite frankly... idiots.

Please be forewarned about taking the second C++ class from this instructor. He means well, but like the other review, he spends an awful lot of time discussing theories and history and very little time actually talking about the code. As for homework, anyone who has taken him before knows, he assigns a lot each week and really doesn't cover much of it. If your lucky, as I was and others in my class, you can easily break the code on the answer disk he hands out and that way you'll have access to something solid to work off of. Exams are, in his words meant to test our abilities, but in actuality they are tricky. And he admits freely that he tries to make them so. Office hours for this semmester (fall 98) were bad, try 7 - 7:30 am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Please consider all your options before taking his class. Going into the final exam the highest score in the class is a 61% out of 100%. One plus is that he grades on a distribution scale.

Dr. Henley is not for everyone. If you are willing to prepare for class and ask questions, you will learn a lot. If you want to go to class, have the material presented to you and fail to do any work on your own .... pick someone else. He gives a lot of home work but is not a particularly difficult grader. He is available to assist students and testing is fair. His major problem is getting down to the student's level so that they are able to understand the concepts.

I gave this teacher a D because he does deserved it. All he does in his lectures are giving examples out of nowhere that confuse you more than help you. And he didn't really follows the book which make hard for you to do the homeworks. But worst yet, he expects you to know everything that is on the test in which he didn't really lecture about. I have no doubt in his understanding of the C++, but the problem is, he doesn't teach it well to the students. If you want to take his class, good luck!!!!

The above student should go back to the English department with his tail between his legs. He probably will not make it through 265 regardless of the teacher. I graduated with a BICS major last year and when I think back on my teachers Ronald Henley definitely stands out. Even though Dr. Henley did tend to be a bit long winded at times, he was very interesting and his insights were germane to students going into the computer field. His teaching style was easy to follow in a subject that is not easy to understand. I learned so much from his class, when I took the next C++ class (365) I got an easy "A" while the rest of the class was struggling. If you want to get the most out of C++ take Dr. Henley.

Even thought this teacher has two degrees from two excellent Universities, he is undoubtedly the most boring and uncaring instructor of all time. He does not utilize his time well, does not give clear examples, does not take students to the lab for hands on instructions and examples of the lecture material, and most importantly, he wastes students time by reiterating all his trite stories about him being one of the smartest man in the field of BICS. The class if three hours long, he uses only 1 but rarely 1.5 hours teaching us, and uses the rest to talk about his infamous history of knowing computer programmer geniuses. Dude, who the hell cares. What the hell do think I paid a few hundred dollars per class for? listen to your crap? Sometimes I wish I could choke him and make him suffer for what he is doing to my classmates and I. Bottom line is, if he's so smart, why can't he utilize his knowledge to help students learn? 'cause he's a jerko.

Sincerely, The Anonymous Samaritan

Ps. Want to get a good education? get another teacher. One more thing, this jerko DOES NOT grade on a curve, and the chance of getting an "A" is next to impossible.

Hey, why the hell am I in his class? I'm a English major.