CMSC335 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 09/10/2024	Nelson is knowledgeable and teaches the material decently but he is unprofessional. He often distracts from the material and embarrasses students, like calling out a student for her insulin pump beeping. He shouldn't have to make jokes at the expense of a student to engage his class because not every student is comfortable being put on blast in front of the whole class. This behavior discourages students from coming to class and creates an uncomfortable environment for those that he picks on and students that have to watch. He does grade fairly and records lectures which is nice. He seems to care about students a lot but continues to act rudely towards them.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/05/2024	Since I already had experience with web programming, this was one of the easiest CS classes I've ever taken. Nelson doesn't require attendance, so I showed up only for the midterms. He provides many resources to use when studying so you're never unprepared. One neat thing about the final project is it's up to you to design and implement it.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 07/01/2024	It was a fine class. Content is not difficult but his exams can be tricky. The good thing is his exams are similar to practice (structure wise). I think some of the point distributions were unfair though. The big change I noticed from his other classes and this is the powerpoints are very bland. There wasn't really enough content on them to answer questions. So it forces you to watch the lectures or go to class (obviously most choose to watch lectures). That being said I think if you learn content from the practices and project you can set yourself up for at least a decent grade.
Andrej Rasevic CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/22/2024	This professor is insanely disorganized and very very very bad at teaching. He uses Nelson's material, which is fine but the issue is that he does not prepare at all. It felt like he did not know any web-dev. He is very unprepared during lectures and just reads what's written in the slides. When a student is paying nearly $5000 for one course, the least he can do is read the material before presenting it. DO NOT TAKE CMSC-335 with him.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2024	This class was chill but it’s pretty useless. It’s missing key elements that are useful in modern web development such as typescript, react, and relational databases. The class material is dated to like 2015 at best. Expected much more for the $$$ we are paying in tuition.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2024	Nelson is a good teacher and very funny. he cares about the content a lot. This class is very fun and very useful for getting started with JavaScript and web development. Would definitely recommend. That being said, exam 1 was kind of a mess because it was not like the sample exams even though he said it would be. The rest of the exams and projects were straightforward. Definitely take him and this class, just expect to put some work into it if you want an A.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/21/2024	Not the best teacher,he gave sample papers for exam 1 and asked major coding question(near 70 points) from other exam.Just goes through code examples,very hard to understand his teaching plus not very funny jokes during class.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/20/2024	super chill course, especially for senior year :) only downsides sometimes were exams having coding content from other exams (ex. exam1 having the content from previous exam2s, exam2 having content from previous exam3s), but all the topics on exams were always outlined and stuff so it was fair in that regard. not bad at all and would 100% recommend!
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2024	Liked this class because I really learned a lot stuff from it. His exam materials were all included in his bullet points for exam topics, which I thought was fair. Project were fun and easy as well, and the final project was a very interesting one to me personally. Nelson, overall, is a pretty good lecturer, he is very funny, kind, and he cares about his students a lot. I recommend everyone take this class.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	His exam materials are all included in his bullet points for exam topics, which I thought was fair. The class was fun and chill, and projects were fair and easy. He also removed the last project just so we could have more time to do the final project/study.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2024	You should either attend lectures or watch recordings if you want to learn. It is actually a pretty useful class. Youll learn a lot about web development. I was taking 20 credits so I barely focused on this class. I just took it for some filler cs in my schedule. If you try even a little bit, you can easily get an A. Exams are basically the same as sample exams, just make sure you review and actually understand everything on the sample exam. The projects are pretty easy as well. There is no final exam, just a final group project.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/14/2024	Terribly organized class. You learn nothing. Not fun.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting a C- Anonymous 04/11/2024	His class is extremity disorganized and a lacks clarity regarding exam content. Despite the absence of guidance on exam topics and the withholding of practice exams, students are left to navigate a frustrating academic experience devoid of support. For exam 1, the main coding question had content from Exam 3. He misguided all of his students.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/28/2024	The class is easy and Nelson is a great lecturer, he makes it very fun. However, you can't talk in class or he will call you out so if you want to do that then just watch his lecture videos.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Anonymous 01/20/2024	Nelson is simply incredible. He is very chill, kind, and funny, all while being a great instructor. His exams (very fair), projects, and lectures are the best!
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A akl2025 01/11/2024	Nelson is a friendly professor for sure. He recorded lectures and posted slides so in-person lectures were optional. Midterms are fairly easy, and you can easy earn a A/B by practicing the old exams. The projects are easy as well. I'd definitely recommend it for students who want to learn web development.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/01/2024	Nelson is as awesome as always. Take this course over all the other electives. You actually learn a good amount and become competent in website building at the end.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/28/2023	Super nice professor who's very fair in his exams and projects. He's also hilarious and makes lectures entertaining.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ frankMiller 12/21/2023	I took CMSC335: Introduction to Javascript with Nelson over Fall 2023 as a CS elective. You MUST take this course. It is actually useful and sometimes even fun. Nelson is of course, classic Nelson. Please also take this course alongside TWO other CS classes because the workload for this course is negligible. It is easily balanced on top of taking CMSC330 and CMSC351, for example. Records lectures, nobody shows up to class, I personally never watched the lectures but I did fine. Nelson was terrible for CMSC131 (kind of expected because he does not like the subject so much and finds it boring, something to "just pay the bills") but he was great for CMSC216 and CMSC335 (both of which he likes), I cannot recommend him enough.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2023	This class was phenomenal! Genuinely the most enjoyable CMSC course you can take at UMD. Projects are very manageable, exams are quite easy if you run through study guides, and you do not have to attend class at all! If you make an effort to soak in the course material, you will learn a ton of applicable skills and it's an easy resume booster, you learn a lot of tools in such a short time. (I suggest working on the final project alone or doing something grand so you can put it on your resume, I did a personal portfolio as my final)
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/28/2023	Great class! Good if you want an introduction to Web Development. Also good if you need an extra CS class that's not too difficult or time-consuming. Lectures are optional and if you skip them you'll be fine because the material is all online. The exams were easy and the projects were easy also and not too time-consuming.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2023	Nelson is a very chill and funny professor. Lectures are recorded and projects and exams are very straightforward. The course covers express, node, and MongoDB, so you do learn some valuable information as well. Definitely recommend taking this course.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2023	Nelson is great. He's really funny and understands student's struggles. 335 was a very useful class, and extremely manageable. Projects were basically just adapting what examples he did in class and there was no final exam, just a final project. Would definitely recommend.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/03/2023	Straightforward and funny professor who teaches you the fundamentals. Great for people getting into web development. I would recommend Nelson 100% for CMSC335
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/06/2023	Nelson is the chillest professor. He understands students needs and teaches important material. This class was very easy though. Projects are mostly changing things from the examples he has in class. The tests are a lot of info to memorize but I found that it wasn't graded so harshly.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/24/2023	You need to take this class an elective with Nelson. Nelson is the best. Period. There are 3 tests and he gives you a test from the previous year that is basically the same thing, with different numbers. The projects are all super easy and straight-forward, while also making you learn the topic. He also gave extensions for almost every project which was always a nice surpise. I wish we spend less time on html in the beginning and spend more time with React/Angular, but overall, great class and great teacher.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/27/2022	Nelson is very understanding and lenient on due dates. Highly recommend the course. Low stress while still getting a background in web dev. Doesn't require coming to class and records all lectures
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A- Justacoder 12/20/2022	Nice person and good professor overall. This lectures were good and his projects were fair. He understands how stressful college can be and trys to accommodate. Only complate is that sometimes his exams material we have just learned and his review guides have a lot of topics which never actually get tested.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/12/2022	Epic class, Epic professor. Everything is set up so perfectly. Attendance is optional. All resources in one place, reasonable exams and projects. Take this course if it all fits your plans.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/17/2022	I am taking this course during the fall of 2022. Nelson is the GOAT. Genuinely an amazing lecturer and an even better person. I wish he taught more upper-level classes so that I can take more classes with him. Always keeps the class engaged by making funny jokes. Amazing teaching skills, he discusses a topic and then immediately shows an example. Records lecture and immediately posts them. Attendance is not required unless it's exam day Exams are extremely fair, nothing scary. Projects are not super challenging but do not wait till the last minute to implement them. AMAZING PROFESSOR MUST TAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC335 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2022	Nelson made this course easy, and he knew it. Absolute king. I went to lecture, but you could easily get away without ever watching lecture. A lot of stuff you can find on the internet or in the lecture examples. I was a bit worried about this course because I found his 131/132 courses to be tricky at times (especially with exams), but Nelson kept this course very straightforward and minimized exam difficulty. I have nothing bad to say about this course except for the fact that I wish it provided more depth on practical skills. We only got into Node towards the end. However, part of what made this course easy was the lack of depth so yk... But yeah, def a chill elective with a wonderful prof!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
09/10/2024

Nelson is knowledgeable and teaches the material decently but he is unprofessional. He often distracts from the material and embarrasses students, like calling out a student for her insulin pump beeping. He shouldn't have to make jokes at the expense of a student to engage his class because not every student is comfortable being put on blast in front of the whole class. This behavior discourages students from coming to class and creates an uncomfortable environment for those that he picks on and students that have to watch. He does grade fairly and records lectures which is nice. He seems to care about students a lot but continues to act rudely towards them.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/05/2024

Since I already had experience with web programming, this was one of the easiest CS classes I've ever taken. Nelson doesn't require attendance, so I showed up only for the midterms. He provides many resources to use when studying so you're never unprepared. One neat thing about the final project is it's up to you to design and implement it.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
07/01/2024

It was a fine class. Content is not difficult but his exams can be tricky. The good thing is his exams are similar to practice (structure wise). I think some of the point distributions were unfair though. The big change I noticed from his other classes and this is the powerpoints are very bland. There wasn't really enough content on them to answer questions. So it forces you to watch the lectures or go to class (obviously most choose to watch lectures). That being said I think if you learn content from the practices and project you can set yourself up for at least a decent grade.

Andrej Rasevic
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/22/2024

This professor is insanely disorganized and very very very bad at teaching. He uses Nelson's material, which is fine but the issue is that he does not prepare at all. It felt like he did not know any web-dev. He is very unprepared during lectures and just reads what's written in the slides. When a student is paying nearly $5000 for one course, the least he can do is read the material before presenting it. DO NOT TAKE CMSC-335 with him.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/29/2024

This class was chill but it’s pretty useless. It’s missing key elements that are useful in modern web development such as typescript, react, and relational databases. The class material is dated to like 2015 at best. Expected much more for the $$$ we are paying in tuition.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/29/2024

Nelson is a good teacher and very funny. he cares about the content a lot. This class is very fun and very useful for getting started with JavaScript and web development. Would definitely recommend. That being said, exam 1 was kind of a mess because it was not like the sample exams even though he said it would be. The rest of the exams and projects were straightforward. Definitely take him and this class, just expect to put some work into it if you want an A.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/21/2024

Not the best teacher,he gave sample papers for exam 1 and asked major coding question(near 70 points) from other exam.Just goes through code examples,very hard to understand his teaching plus not very funny jokes during class.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/20/2024

super chill course, especially for senior year :) only downsides sometimes were exams having coding content from other exams (ex. exam1 having the content from previous exam2s, exam2 having content from previous exam3s), but all the topics on exams were always outlined and stuff so it was fair in that regard. not bad at all and would 100% recommend!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/20/2024

Liked this class because I really learned a lot stuff from it. His exam materials were all included in his bullet points for exam topics, which I thought was fair. Project were fun and easy as well, and the final project was a very interesting one to me personally. Nelson, overall, is a pretty good lecturer, he is very funny, kind, and he cares about his students a lot. I recommend everyone take this class.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2024

His exam materials are all included in his bullet points for exam topics, which I thought was fair. The class was fun and chill, and projects were fair and easy. He also removed the last project just so we could have more time to do the final project/study.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/16/2024

You should either attend lectures or watch recordings if you want to learn. It is actually a pretty useful class. Youll learn a lot about web development. I was taking 20 credits so I barely focused on this class. I just took it for some filler cs in my schedule. If you try even a little bit, you can easily get an A. Exams are basically the same as sample exams, just make sure you review and actually understand everything on the sample exam. The projects are pretty easy as well. There is no final exam, just a final group project.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/14/2024

Terribly organized class. You learn nothing. Not fun.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
04/11/2024

His class is extremity disorganized and a lacks clarity regarding exam content. Despite the absence of guidance on exam topics and the withholding of practice exams, students are left to navigate a frustrating academic experience devoid of support. For exam 1, the main coding question had content from Exam 3. He misguided all of his students.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
03/28/2024

The class is easy and Nelson is a great lecturer, he makes it very fun. However, you can't talk in class or he will call you out so if you want to do that then just watch his lecture videos.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Anonymous
01/20/2024

Nelson is simply incredible. He is very chill, kind, and funny, all while being a great instructor. His exams (very fair), projects, and lectures are the best!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
akl2025
01/11/2024

Nelson is a friendly professor for sure. He recorded lectures and posted slides so in-person lectures were optional. Midterms are fairly easy, and you can easy earn a A/B by practicing the old exams. The projects are easy as well. I'd definitely recommend it for students who want to learn web development.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/01/2024

Nelson is as awesome as always. Take this course over all the other electives. You actually learn a good amount and become competent in website building at the end.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/28/2023

Super nice professor who's very fair in his exams and projects. He's also hilarious and makes lectures entertaining.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
frankMiller
12/21/2023

I took CMSC335: Introduction to Javascript with Nelson over Fall 2023 as a CS elective. You MUST take this course. It is actually useful and sometimes even fun. Nelson is of course, classic Nelson. Please also take this course alongside TWO other CS classes because the workload for this course is negligible. It is easily balanced on top of taking CMSC330 and CMSC351, for example. Records lectures, nobody shows up to class, I personally never watched the lectures but I did fine. Nelson was terrible for CMSC131 (kind of expected because he does not like the subject so much and finds it boring, something to "just pay the bills") but he was great for CMSC216 and CMSC335 (both of which he likes), I cannot recommend him enough.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2023

This class was phenomenal! Genuinely the most enjoyable CMSC course you can take at UMD. Projects are very manageable, exams are quite easy if you run through study guides, and you do not have to attend class at all! If you make an effort to soak in the course material, you will learn a ton of applicable skills and it's an easy resume booster, you learn a lot of tools in such a short time. (I suggest working on the final project alone or doing something grand so you can put it on your resume, I did a personal portfolio as my final)

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/28/2023

Great class! Good if you want an introduction to Web Development. Also good if you need an extra CS class that's not too difficult or time-consuming. Lectures are optional and if you skip them you'll be fine because the material is all online. The exams were easy and the projects were easy also and not too time-consuming.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/16/2023

Nelson is a very chill and funny professor. Lectures are recorded and projects and exams are very straightforward. The course covers express, node, and MongoDB, so you do learn some valuable information as well. Definitely recommend taking this course.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/15/2023

Nelson is great. He's really funny and understands student's struggles. 335 was a very useful class, and extremely manageable. Projects were basically just adapting what examples he did in class and there was no final exam, just a final project. Would definitely recommend.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/03/2023

Straightforward and funny professor who teaches you the fundamentals. Great for people getting into web development. I would recommend Nelson 100% for CMSC335

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/06/2023

Nelson is the chillest professor. He understands students needs and teaches important material. This class was very easy though. Projects are mostly changing things from the examples he has in class. The tests are a lot of info to memorize but I found that it wasn't graded so harshly.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/24/2023

You need to take this class an elective with Nelson. Nelson is the best. Period. There are 3 tests and he gives you a test from the previous year that is basically the same thing, with different numbers. The projects are all super easy and straight-forward, while also making you learn the topic. He also gave extensions for almost every project which was always a nice surpise. I wish we spend less time on html in the beginning and spend more time with React/Angular, but overall, great class and great teacher.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/27/2022

Nelson is very understanding and lenient on due dates. Highly recommend the course. Low stress while still getting a background in web dev. Doesn't require coming to class and records all lectures

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A-
Justacoder
12/20/2022

Nice person and good professor overall. This lectures were good and his projects were fair. He understands how stressful college can be and trys to accommodate. Only complate is that sometimes his exams material we have just learned and his review guides have a lot of topics which never actually get tested.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/12/2022

Epic class, Epic professor. Everything is set up so perfectly. Attendance is optional. All resources in one place, reasonable exams and projects. Take this course if it all fits your plans.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/17/2022

I am taking this course during the fall of 2022. Nelson is the GOAT. Genuinely an amazing lecturer and an even better person. I wish he taught more upper-level classes so that I can take more classes with him. Always keeps the class engaged by making funny jokes. Amazing teaching skills, he discusses a topic and then immediately shows an example. Records lecture and immediately posts them. Attendance is not required unless it's exam day Exams are extremely fair, nothing scary. Projects are not super challenging but do not wait till the last minute to implement them. AMAZING PROFESSOR MUST TAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC335

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2022

Nelson made this course easy, and he knew it. Absolute king. I went to lecture, but you could easily get away without ever watching lecture. A lot of stuff you can find on the internet or in the lecture examples. I was a bit worried about this course because I found his 131/132 courses to be tricky at times (especially with exams), but Nelson kept this course very straightforward and minimized exam difficulty. I have nothing bad to say about this course except for the fact that I wish it provided more depth on practical skills. We only got into Node towards the end. However, part of what made this course easy was the lack of depth so yk... But yeah, def a chill elective with a wonderful prof!

Reviews for CMSC335