[COMS W4731] Computer Vision

I can see why people like him, but the material is extremely difficult, beware!

He makes lectures interesting and funny, but he glosses over important concepts and you never feel like you understand anything until the difficult midterm and final come around. You'll have to study your ass off just to pass.

The programs are a lot fun. They take some thinking, but overall they're well-structured and very useful. The theory questions on homeworks are impossible.

What's very unfair about this course though is that you can't recover from a single bad grade on anything (hw, midterm, or final). A single mess-up will glare at you on your final grade, not to mention that the curve is very small. The difference between letter grades is very slight, only a few points will be bump you up from a B+ to an A (notice there's no A-). But only a few points will drop you down from a B+ to a B-.

Unfortunately he grades strictly by the numbers, and no amount of asking questions in class, going to office hours, or demonstrating grade improvement throughout the semester will factor into your final grade. He has no problem setting the average to a low grade.

Professor Shree Nayar is the best professor I met at Columbia. The course is very informative. He gives great lecture with a sense of humor. The TA are very helpful. The assignments are not that hard but yet gives you a sense of how things really work.

I highly recommend this course to anybody who has interest in vision/graphics. It's a must for students in vision/graphics track.

Highly recommended.

Professor Nayar is tied for my favorite professor. The main reason I believe he is so good is because he conveys material in an extremely concise, understandable and well-spoken manner and really knows the subject inside-
out. He is also very approachable in person and makes an effort to know students on some basic level.

The only thing that was a little weird about the vision class was the lack of math -- it was all in the slides but there is essentially no math in the entire class, which is in sharp contrast to the textbook. In addition, the first homework is pretty ridiculous in many ways and shouldn't be considered as a measure of the class' overall worth.

Programming assignments are engaging, and exams are very fair. Prof. Nayar makes use of the entire spectrum of scores on exams, and I feel gives proper questions to let those who understand subjects thoroughly to stand out. The one complaint about them is that he does not even give a format for the exam, let alone sample questions -- this was very nerve-wracking for me personally but it ended up OK in the end.

Prof Nayar is a natural. He is clear and cogent and drives all the relevant points home. Be sure to hang on to every word he says, because its generally very deep. If possible, make notes on top of the slides he gives, they make it easier to understand them when you study for the exam. This is a no-nonsense course, only relevant stuff is taught. Therefore, read the slides very thoroughly. Its not much to read, compared to the Horn book which is quiet abstruse. The class is a great learning experience. Particularly because of the simplicity that Prof Nayar brings to it. If you ever have anything remotely close to Vision take this class. If you don't, take it to experience what a great teacher is like.