uwloo

NE 111Introduction to Programming for Engineers

Units
0.25
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Nanotechnology Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 3 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Introduction to programming and numerical computing using a high-level interpreted programming language. Programming fundamentals, computer architecture, design and use of functions, strings and text input/output, relational operators, conditionals, lists, loops, designing algorithms, numerical computing, plotting, and file input/output.

Prerequisites

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 001479698 / 120M 14:30–17:20
M 14:30–17:20
Sep 11 12:30–13:20
Nov 6 12:30–13:20
Oct 2 12:30–13:20
TST 101536198 / 120Oct 23 14:30–16:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

66% liked it64% easy79% useful

From 58 ratings and 15 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • I love Wendigoon he gave me a 99

    Nov 2025 · liked it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • If you've never coded before, I can guarantee that this will be a hard course if you don't put in effort; if you do, you can lowkey skip all the intro stuff. It's very content-heavy for how much class time we have and given the course weight (0.25). The midterm uses the same premise as the assignments, where you need to be very exact; if not, you basically got the entire question wrong. This caused a horrible deviation where people who tried to get partial marks simply didn't because of how things were marked, compared to the cracked coders, who got 100s. He changed the final to be on paper days leading up to the exam. With little guidance on the cheat sheet, the final turned out really…

    Apr 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Basic programming, show up to class and itll be free grades.

    Nov 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • It was medium difficulty, and marking is brutal... but god bless jeff gostick and his curve

    Jun 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • As a first-time programmer, this course was very fast paced. Grading was brutal: if your code didn’t run perfectly, you got a 0, which led to many doing terribly on the midterm. Super easy to fail, but Gostick saved everyone at the end.

    Apr 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

8 posts and comments in 8 threads mention NE 111, April 2017 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2023

Chemical Engineering or Nano Engineering at Waterloo? 1 point, 1 comment

“Hi, I'm a high school student student looking to apply to Waterloo Engineering, but I'm not too sure about which majors to pick. …”

u/Ok_Sea2877: “DONT DO NANO it’s so unimaginably hard 😭”

u/Ok_Sea2877: “… NE 111 can be challenging if you don't have programming experience, but otherwise manageable. NE 100 the solidworks part of this course is very boring and tedious especially for certain assignments, the other part of the course is light-ish. Again lots of work. …”

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to my NE 111 Prof... 1 point, 2 comments

u/so_goose: “I saw the lazeez coding question..... dont think you are trying to fool us with the order\lazeez\function, you are one of us, the redditors. i understood. cheers student @ this univeristy”

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Fall 2020

Spring 2020

Frosh/High School Megathread (Fall 2020) 201 points, 1,602 comments

“Welcome to Waterloo, first-years (and interested high school students)! Use this thread to post any questions related to frosh or your first year at Waterloo in general.”

u/Yolobrute: “Hi, was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction for a place to buy used textbooks. Specifically I am looking for books for MATH 117 and NE 111. Any help appreciated. Thanks.”

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Spring 2019

Fall 2018

I feel like dropping out already... 2 points, 8 comments

“I'm in 1A nano engineering. It was my alternative choice and I regret choosing nano. Lectures are really boring and so many people telling me that it's super hard to get a good coop job make me …”

u/WhiteBeamz: “… Your computing course (NE 111) is extremely useful in virtually any other kind of engineering. If your first choice was SE/ECE then you will need that knowledge for sure. …”

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Fall 2017

Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments

“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”

u/Jackhofmann: “PSYCH 483 PSYCH 484 PSYCH 485 PSYCH 486 PSYCH 490R PSYCH 499A PSYCH 499B PSYCH 499C PSYCH 621 PSYCH 630 PSYCH 677A PSYCH 704A PSYCH 704B PSYCH 707 PSYCH 710 PSYCH 714 PSYCH 717 PSYCH 720A PSYCH 721A …”

u/Jackhofmann: “… MUSIC 390 MUSIC 426 MUSIC 427 MUSIC 428 MUSIC 492 NANO 701 NANO 702 NE 100 NE 101 NE 109 NE 111 NE 112 NE 121 NE 201 NE 215 NE 216 NE 220L NE 224 NE 232 NE 241 NE 302 NE 307 NE 330L NE 335 NE 336 NE 340L NE 345 NE 352 NE 353 NE 381 NE 408 NE 451 NE 454A NE 454B NE 454C NE 454D …”

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Winter 2017

Is it worth staying in nano? 8 points, 27 comments

“I've been taking with some people outside of Waterloo who have been urging me to switch out of nano after first year is done. …”

u/Buttbuttrevolution: “… I think it's the programs job to make you employable - for example, there's no real programming courses (NE 111/113 do not count as real CS courses IMO) so lots of people learn it on their own. Why isn't there a good programming course included in the curriculum? …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar