Emanuele Viola is a Computer Science professor at Northeastern University rated 2.63/5 by 83 students, with 3.85/5 difficulty and 22.0% who would take them again (TRACE + RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated July 2026).
Emanuele Viola professor reviews and ratings: 2.63/5 from 83 student reviews at Northeastern (22.0% would take again). TRACE + RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
Very kind professor. He really cares about making sure you enjoy the (rather complicated) material and get something out of it. He is not focused on making you grind out difficult homework and exams. He is always available to chat about theory and any interests you might have. Also reaches out to meet students. Great guy overall.CS3800 2023-08-18 22:33:32 +0000 UTC
This professor really makes me rethink about class experience, even on ZOOM. The YouTube Videos in advance of every class are made POORLY, some are fair and some are really bad, you might as well search the topic and learn it yourself. Especially, it is HARD TO UNDERSTAND with the accent. Think TWICE before Taking this prof's class.CS5800 2020-12-14 04:30:41 +0000 UTC
If you ever have the misfortune of having this man as a professor, know that there's a much more understandable online version of his Theory of Computation course that can be accessed on Youtube taught by a professor from another university (Harry Porter). Incomprehensible grading and lectures, doesn't care about his students's understanding.CS3800 2016-11-17 13:06:17 +0000 UTC
Great classCS5800 2020-07-01 04:53:24 +0000 UTC
He finds the least clear way to explain everything and anything. If you find a textbook online you can read two paragraphs and perfectly understand something he "explained" for an entire class. His tests are entirely dependent on recalling specific proofs or facts he stated on his slides, and even if you do his TA's seem to grade with dice.CS3800 2016-11-17 12:37:47 +0000 UTC
Can't. Understand. Him. His accent makes it so that whenever he tries to attempt pronouncing a word larger than 5 characters of length, you cannot understand him. Period. Worst accent I've heard in awhile. Just reads off the slides. Hard ass grading. Nough SaidCS3800 2016-11-17 02:33:11 +0000 UTC
This is what happens when a professor gets Tenure. He clearly doesn't care about the class; he says things like "this is trivial, let's move on" instead of asking the class. He also doesn't take office hours seriously.CS3800 2016-11-04 10:32:49 +0000 UTC
He is the worst professor I have had at Northeastern. Seems to not care at all about students or the class at all. Has one hour of office hours a week, and is horrible at explaining the concepts of the class.CS3800 2016-11-02 09:00:25 +0000 UTC
He has a thick Italian accent. He gives poor feedback, and his grading scheme is harsh and unforgiving. He's obviously smart, so he probably thinks it's trivial to explain the things that don't make sense to students.CS3800 2016-10-24 12:24:44 +0000 UTC
Emanuele Viola has an average rating of 2.63/5 from 83 student reviews. 22.0% of students said they would take them again.
Emanuele Viola's classes have a difficulty rating of 3.85/5 based on student reviews.
Emanuele Viola has taught CS4805, CS7805, CS3800, CS5800, CS7880 at Northeastern.
Data updated July 2026.